1681  West.  Fordham,  Elias  Pym.  Personal  Narrative  of  Travels  in  Vir- 
ginia, Maryland,  Penn.,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Kentucky  and  of  a  residence  in  the 
Illinois  Territory,  1817-1818.  Edited  by  F.  A.  Fogg.  Illustrated,  8vo,  cloth, 
Cleveland,  1906.  $3.00 


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FORDHAM'S     PERSONAL    NARRATIVE 

1817-1818 


J.  C.  CUNNINGHAM 
922  GREEN  ST. 

PERSONAL  NARRATIVE 


OF 


Travels  in  Virginia,  ^Maryland, 
'Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana, 
famtucky;  and  of  a  Residence  in 
the  Illinois  Territory:  1817-1818 

BY 

ELIAS  PYM  FORDHAM 

With  facsimiles  of  the  author's  sketches  and  plans 

Edited  by 
FREDERIC  AUSTIN  OGG,  A.  M. 

Author  of  "The  Opening  of  the  Mississippi" 


Cleveland 

The  Arthur  H.  Clark  Company 
1906 


"  ->**4UL7fJ& 


tf 


COPYRIGHT,  1906,  BY 
THE  ARTHUR  H.  CLARK  COMPANY 

ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


.3 


CONTENTS 

EDITOR'S   PREFACE         .        .                .        .        .  .11 

EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION        .        »        .        .        .  ;  .     13 

FORDHAM'S  PERSONAL  NARRATIVE:  1817-1818 

Original   Preface         .        .        .        .        .  .  .   .    • .  ,;'  t •-.  ,  .    41 

I 

The  ocean  voyage  —  Ascent  of  the  James  —  A  Virginia  land- 
scape—  Petersburg  —  The  Virginia  farmers  —  Voyage  from 
Norfolk  to  Baltimore  —  The  coasts  of  the  Chesapeake  .  43 

II 

Character  of  the  Virginians  —  Unhealthful  physical  condi- 
tions —  Baltimore  —  Communications  between  Baltimore 
and  Pittsburg  —  The  Marylanders  —  The  Pennsylvanians  — 
The  East  and  West  as  fields  for  settlement  ...  55 

III 

Vices  of  the  western  Pennsylvanians  —  Slavery,  and  society 
in  the  slave  states  —  The  Climate  of  the  United  States  .  64 

IV 

Methods  of  earlier  writers  on  the  West  —  Pittsburg  —  In- 
dustries of  the  vicinity  —  Flat-boats  and  keels  on  the  Ohio 

—  The  start  down  the  river  —  Neville's  Island  —  Logstown 

—  Beavertown  —  Wheeling  —  Fish      Creek  —  A      thunder- 
storm —  Marietta  —  The  Muskingham  [Muskingum]  —  Blen- 
nerhassett's  Island  —  Galliopagus  [Gallipolis]  —  Portsmouth 

—  Manchester  —  Maysville  —  Augusta  —  Arrival   at   Cincin- 
nati         70 


Lack  of  time  for  writing  —  The  trip  across  Indiana  —  Vin- 
cennes  —  The  Indians  of  the  neighborhood  —  Princeton  — 
Prices  of  land 95 

VI 

The  forests  of  Indiana  —  The  Indiana  Constitution  —  Char- 
acter and  prices  of  land  —  Emigration  directed  further  west 
—  Commercial  importance  of  the  Mississippi  —  Unhealthy 
conditions  on  the  lower  Mississippi  —  The  Wabash  —  De- 
scription of  Princeton  —  Prospective  visit  to  the  Illinois 
Territory 100 


Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 


VII 

Physical  character  of  southern  Illinois  —  The  English  Prairie 

—  Three  lines  of  communication  with  the  Atlantic  —  Set- 
tlers in  and  about  the  English  Prairies  —  Rates  of  freightage 

—  Cost  of  travel  —  A  tabular  view  of  products  —  Fauna  of 
the  region — Salt  deposits  —  Cost  of  building — Advantages 
of  the  backwoods  settler  —  Profits  of  trade  —  Land  the  basis 
of    wealth  —  The    Mississippi    river    system  —  Slaves    and 
bound  persons  —  Classes  of  frontier  settlers  —  Character  of 
the  backwoodsman  —  Democratic  manners  —  Signs  of  prog- 
ress —  How   to   take   up   land  —  Eastern   ignorance   of  the 
West  —  The  climate  —  Size  of  the  Illinois  Territory  —  Op- 
portunities   for   capital   in    Illinois  —  No   prejudice   against 
liberal-minded  Englishmen        . in 

VIII 

A  trip  down  the  Patoka  —  Winter  labors  and  amusements  — 
Christmas  —  Legislation  against  duelling  —  A  journey  to 
Cincinnati  —  Lack  of  scenery  —  Difficulties  of  travel  —  A 
frontier  j  udge  —  Fredericksburg  —  Albany  —  Louisville  — 
Shelbyville —  Cost  of  lodgings  —  Frankfort  —  The  Ken- 
tuckians  —  Arrival  at  Cincinnati  .  .  .  .  .  .  136 

IX 

A  trip  across  the  Wabash  in  search  of  land  —  A  night  in  the 
woods  —  The  people  of  Indiana  —  The  Kentuckians  .  .  166 


The  Americanizing  of  emigrants  —  Attitude  of  Westerners 
toward  Englishmen  —  Prospective  peace  with  the  southern 
Indians  —  Emigration  to  Missouri  —  Mr.  Birkbeck's  estate 

—  Fordham's  farm  —  Opportunities  for  men  with  capital  — 
Respect  for  education  and  manners 170 

XI 

The  people  of  Virginia  —  The  Kentuckians  —  The  winning 
of  Kentucky  from  the  Indians  —  The  work  of  Daniel  Boone 

—  Sensations    experienced    in    the    wilderness  —  Nature    of 
Indian   warfare  —  Cassidy's  achievements  —  Manner  of  life 
of  a  wealthy  Kentucky  farmer  —  Society  inchoate  in  the  Illi- 
nois Country  —  The  farming  class  —  The  hunters        .        .  176 

XII 

Dimensions  of  the  Ohio  —  Its  scenery  —  Velocity  of  the  cur- 
rent —  La  Salle  on  the  Ohio  —  Early  settlements  in  the 
West  —  Struggle  of  frontiersmen  and  Indians  —  Population 
of  the  western  states  —  The  growth  of  Cincinnati  —  Descrip- 
tion of  the  city  —  Manners  of  the  people  —  The  negro  popu- 
lation—  Story  of  the  negro  Anthony  —  Character  of  the 
flatboatmen .183 


Contents 


XIII 

A  record  of  temperatures  —  A  hard  winter  —  Life  during 
the  cold  weather  —  The  climate  and  health  —  Reasons  for 
lack  of  longevity  among  the  Westerners  —  A  trip  from 
Princeton  to  the  English  Prairie  —  The  hiring  of  laborers  — 
Entering  more  land  —  English  manners  to  be  preserved  in 
Mr.  Birkbeck's  settlement  —  Possibility  of  an  Indian  war  — 
The  Rappites  of  Harmony  —  Their  manners  and  character 
—  Religious  services 198 

XIV 

Rise  of  land  values  —  The  question  of  admitting  slavery  — 
Lack  of  free  laborers  —  Wages  and  expenses  of  laborers  — 
Land  for  every  immigrant  —  Mr.  Birkbeck's  plan  for  the 
settlement  of  his  English  laborers  —  Difficulties  of  estab- 
lishing a  settlement  —  Threatened  incursion  of  Indians  — 
Kentucky  hospitality  —  Mode  of  life  of  the  Kentuckians  209 

XV 

Mr.  Birkbeck's  book  —  A  journal  of  ten  days  —  A  fourth  of 
July  celebration  —  The  coming  struggle  over  slavery  in  Illi- 
nois—  Acts  of  Congress  regarding  Illinois  —  A  projected 
trip  up  the  Red  River  —  Character  of  the  backwoodsman  — 
High  regard  for  Englishmen  —  The  life  of  the  hunters  on 
the  Wabash  —  The  hunters  on  the  Missouri  —  Men  needed 
to  develop  the  wilderness .  .  217 

XVI 

Opportunities  for  English  settlers  in  the  West  —  Sacrifices 
and  comforts  of  frontier  life  —  Places  of  settlement  recom- 
mended for  various  classes  of  English  emigrants  —  Expenses 
of  living  —  Servitude  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  226 

XVII 

The  prevalence  of  intermittent  fevers  —  The  climate  of  Illi- 
nois —  Lung  troubles  almost  unknown  ....  .  .  230 

XVIII 

The  town  of  Albion  planned  —  Continued  surveying  —  The 
surrounding  prairies  —  Prairie  fires.  Instructions  for  Emi- 
grants :  Capital  required  —  Paying  occupations  —  Clothing 
to  be  brought  —  Blankets  a  good  investment  —  Travelling  in 
the  steerage  —  The  journey  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg 
—  Down  the  Ohio  to  the  Illinois  Country  *  .  .  .  233 

SELECTED  LIST  OF  CONTEMPORARY  TRAVELS        .        .  239 
INDEX     .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        •  243 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLAN  OF  PITTSBURG  IN  1817       .        .        .        .  73 

OHIO  RIVER  FLATBOAT  AND  KEELBOAT      .         .  77 

ENGLISH  PRAIRIE 113 

SKETCH  MAP  OF  FORDHAM'S  ESTATE,  ENGLISH 

PRAIRIE  (text  cut)        .         .         .         •  173 

PLAN  OF  CINCINNATI  iNi8i8      .         .         .         .  185 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE 

FOR  information  regarding  the  personal  history  of 
Elias  Pym  Fordham,  author  of  the  narrative  here- 
with published,  the  Editor  is  indebted  to  Dr.  Hubert 
de  Laserre  Spence,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  who  has 
supplied  not  only  a  statement  of  his  own  knowledge 
of  the  enterprising  young  Englishman,  but  also  a 
memorandum  by  his  aunt,  Sophia  Worthington, 
and  an  interesting  manuscript  embodying  the 
recollections  of  Mary  Spence,  his  mother. 

The  preparation  of  the  notes  has  been  facilitated 
to  such  a  degree  by  recent  volumes  of  Early 
Western  Travels,  1748-1846,  edited  by  Dr.  Reuben 
Gold  Thwaites,  that  special  acknowledgment  of 
obligation  ought  to  be  made  for  use  of  material 
in  the  early  volumes  of  travel  made  accessible 
in  that  valuable  series.  Full  titles  of  the  works 
chiefly  referred  to  will  be  found  in  the  list  of  con- 
temporary travels  at  the  end  of  this  volume.  It  is 
hoped  that  the  publication  of  the  Fordham  manu- 
script may  be  of  service  to  students  of  Western 
history  in  general,  and  especially  to  those  inter- 
ested in  the  processes  by  which  the  composite  popu- 
lation of  the  Mississippi  Valley  was  built  up  in  the 
great  era  of  migration. 

F.  A.  O. 

HARVARD  UNIVERSITY,  January,    1906. 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

THE  years  immediately  following  the  close  of  the 
second  war  with  Great  Britain  witnessed  a  remark- 
able increase  in  the  population  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  particularly  of  the  old  Northwest  Territory 
and  the  remoter  regions  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas. 
Aside  from  the  high  birth-rate  uniformly  charac- 
teristic of  American  frontier  communities,  this 
increase  was  due  to  an  unprecedented  influx  of 
settlers  from  two  sources :  the  seaboard  states  and 
Europe,  chiefly  Great  Britain  and  Germany. 

Prior  to  about  1815  emigration  from  the  East 
to  the  West  had  been  large  in  the  aggregate,  but 
very  unsteady.  The  westward  movement  had  been 
in  the  nature  of  successive  waves  separated  by  inter- 
vals of  comparative  inactivity.  Three  important 
epochs  of  migration  since  the  establishment  of 
national  independence  can  be  distinguished :  ( i )  the 
years  of  uncertainty  and  distress  between  the  end  of 
the  Revolution  and  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution ; 
(2)  the  period  including  the  "hard  times"  of  1800 
and  culminating  in  the  acquisition  of  the  Louisiana 
Territory  in  1803;  and  (3)  the  era  of  commercial 
depression  which  began  with  the  embargo  of  1807 
and  continued  until  relieved  by  the  succeeding  war. 
During  each  of  these  periods  of  unsettlement,  thou- 
sands of  people  in  the  older  states  abandoned  con- 
ditions which  they  found  disadvantageous,  or  posi- 
tively onerous,  and  yielded  to  the  allurements  of 


14  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

the  far-famed  West.  As  time  went  on,  the  numbers 
increased  and  the  movement  tended  steadily  to 
become  more  constant  and  less  dependent  upon 
prosperity  or  the  lack  of  it  on  the  seaboard. 

The  outbreak  of  war  in  1812,  with  the  accom- 
panying Indian  uprisings  in  the  West,  checked  the 
flow  of  homeseekers  temporarily ;  but  by  the  winter 
of  1814  the  exodus  from  the  East  along  the  high- 
ways of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  and  down 
the  Ohio  had  come  to  be  on  such  a  scale  as  to  call 
forth  astonished  comment  in  all  sections  of  the 
country.  By  1816  Ohio,  which  the  census  of  1810 
showed  to  contain  a  population  of  230,000,  was 
estimated  to  be  the  home  of  400,000  whites.  In 
these  six  years  the  population  of  Indiana  increased 
from  24,000  to  70,000,  enabling  this  territory  in 
1816  tp  become  a  member  of  the  federal  union. 
From  406,000  to  more  than  500,000  was  Kentucky's 
growth  in  the  same  period.  And  Illinois  was 
brought  from  13,000  or  14,000  almost  to  the  attain- 
ment of  statehood.  The  frontier  —  technically  de- 
nned as  the  line  of  at  least  two  settlers  to  the  square 
mile,  though  more  properly  to  be  regarded  as  a  belt 
or  zone  than  as  a  line  —  was  pushed  back  rapidly 
and  given  long  finger-like  protrusions  up  the  larger 
water-courses,  especially  the  Wabash,  the  Kaskas- 
kia,  the  Mississippi,  the  Missouri,  the  Arkansas, 
and  the  Red. 

In  the  Eastern  states,  where  there  was  a  strong 
disposition  to  lament  the  draining  off  of  the  sturdi- 
est elements  of  the  population,  it  was  expected  that 


Introduction  15 


the  end  of  the  war  and  the  restoration  of  commer- 
cial prosperity  (together  with  the  rise  of  new  and 
profitable  industries)  would  reduce  emigration 
across  the  Alleghenies  to  something  like  its  earlier 
volume.  But  this  anticipation  was  not  realized. 
With  each  succeeding  year  after  the  Peace  of  Ghent 
the  number  of  emigrants  rose  to  a  higher  figure, 
and  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  decade  from  1815  to 
1825  became  the  period  during  which  the  central 
Mississippi  Valley  attained  its  highest  per  cent  of 
increase  in  population  in  the  century.  Land-hunger, 
dislike  of  overcrowding,  discontent  with  economic 
conditions,  love  of  adventure  and  novelty  —  these 
were  the  great  forces  which  impelled  men  to  for- 
sake New  England,  New  York,  and  Virginia  for 
the  ruder  but  roomier  prairies  and  river-valleys  of 
the  West.  The  final  suppression  of  the  Indians,  by 
William  Henry  Harrison  in  the  Northwest  and 
by  Jackson  in  the  South,  relieved  many  prospective 
emigrants  of  the  fears  which  had  hitherto  been  an 
insuperable  obstacle ;  and  the  development  of  steam 
navigation  on  the  western  lakes  and  rivers,  which 
began  with  the  launching  of  the  "New  Orleans" 
on  the  Ohio  in  1811,  provided  means  of  travel  and 
trade  distinctively  stimulative  to  migration  and  set- 
tlement. 

The  peopling  of  the  West,  however,  was  not  left 
entirely  to  be  accomplished  by  the  migrations  of 
native  Americans.  The  same  decade  which  was 
marked  by  so  considerable  a  westward  movement 
from  the  seaboard  states  was  likewise  notable  for 


1 6  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

the  unprecedented  immigration  of  Europeans,  part 
of  whom  settled  in  the  East  and  offset  in  a  measure 
the  depopulation  caused  by  the  westward  exodus, 
but  a  very  large  proportion  of  whom  pressed  on 
across  the  mountains  in  quest  of  homes  in  the  fertile 
and  undeveloped  interior.  Prior  to  1820  no  records 
of  immigration  were  kept  by  the  United  States 
Government,  and  hence  we  have  nothing  better  than 
unofficial  estimates  from  which  to  judge  the  extent 
of  the  settlement  of  Europeans  in  America  during 
the  six  important  years  following  the  Peace  of 
Ghent.  Since  the  majority  of  immigrants  in  this 
part  of  the  century  came  from  Great  Britain,  the 
hostilities  of  1811-1814  very  naturally  caused  a 
marked  cessation  in  the  movement.  But  about 
1817  the  tide  resumed  with  greater  force  than  ever, 
and  in  that  year  the  total  number  of  immigrants 
arriving  was  estimated  at  over  20,000.  The  num- 
ber the  following  year  was  probably  about  the  same. 
Congress  saw  in  these  figures  a  necessity  for  legis- 
lation to  regulate  the  transportation  of  immigrants 
and  to  prevent  the  overcrowding  of  ships  on  which 
they  made  the  voyage  to  the  United  States;  and 
a  law  was  enacted,  March  2,  1819,  containing  suit- 
able provisions  in  this  direction  and  prescribing 
that  an  official  count  should  begin  to  be  kept  the 
following  year.  The  first  records  obtained  in  con- 
sequence of  this  legislation  showed  how  overwhelm- 
ingly our  immigrants  from  the  United  Kingdom 
outnumbered  those  from  other  European  countries. 
While  from  September,  1819,  to  September,  1820, 


Introduction  17 


the  number  of  Germans  coming  to  the  United 
States  was  but  948,  of  Frenchmen  but  371,  and 
of  Spaniards  but  139,  that  of  British  and  Irish  was 
6,000. 

The  close  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  left  Great 
Britain  in  a  condition,  politically  and  economically, 
exceedingly  favorable  to  heavy  emigration.  The 
nation  had  been  engaged  in  a  titanic  conflict  which 
had  lasted  with  little  intermission  for  more  than 
twenty-two  years  and  which  had  left  the  Govern- 
ment staggering  under  a  war  debt  of  £831,000,000. 
During  this  long  period  the  movement  for  larger 
popular  liberty,  which  had  grown  to  considerable 
proportions  during  the  years  in  which  the  seeds  of 
revolution  were  ripening  in  France,  had  been  held 
in  abeyance;  much  had  been  lost  in  this  time  and 
nothing  gained  by  the  cause  of  liberalism.  The 
Tory  ministry,  absorbed  wholly  in  the  conflict  with 
the  ambitious  Corsican,  had  shown  itself  quite  indif- 
ferent to  domestic  well-being  and  in  the  hour  of 
victory  its  proud  and  complacent  attitude  betokened 
the  period  of  political  reaction  through  which  Eng- 
land was  destined  in  the  next  decade  to  pass. 
The  establishment  of  a  lasting  peace  cleared  the 
way  for  a  revival  of  domestic  problems,  and  a  great 
mass  of  discontented  people  who  had  been  patriotic 
enough  to  withhold  their  criticisms  while  the  nation 
was  in  danger,  now  became  more  insistent  than 
ever  that  numerous  and  far-reaching  reforms  in 
governmental  and  industrial  conditions  be  speedily 
undertaken. 


1 8  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

Part  of  the  evils  complained  of  were  political. 
Owing  to  excessive  property  requirements  for  the 
exercise  of  the  franchise  and  the  lack  of  adjust- 
ment of  representation  to  the  distribution  of  popu- 
lation, Parliament  was  very  far  from  constituting 
a  true  national  assembly  and  its  legislation  was 
felt  to  be  that  of  a  class  for  a  class,  regardless  of 
the  interests  of  the  masses  of  the  people.  The 
multiplying  of  sinecure  offices,  created  and  main- 
tained at  heavy  public  expense  for  the  benefit  of 
do-nothing  aristocrats,  was  regarded  as  another 
crying  political  abuse.  Even  more  critical  were 
the  evils  of  an  economic  character.  England  was 
yet  in  the  throes  of  the  Industrial  Revolution,  and 
thousands  of  men  were  being  crowded  out  of  em- 
ployment, temporarily  at  least,  by  the  introduction 
of  machinery  and  the  establishment  of  the  factory 
system.  Then  the  return  of  peace  reduced  the  for- 
eign demand  for  many  kinds  of  manufactured 
goods,  resulting  in  a  yet  further  over-supply  of 
labor.  The  Corn  Law  of  1815,  enacted  for  the 
express  purpose  of  keeping  up  the  price  of  food- 
stuffs, in  the  interest  of  the  aristocratic  landlord 
class,  bore  intolerably  on  the  poverty-stricken  ten- 
ants, and  indeed  upon  the  entire  laboring  class  of 
the  realm.  The  condition  of  the  poor,  in  both  city 
and  country,  was  worse,  relatively  if  not  absolutely, 
in  1815  than  it  had  been  thirty  years  before.  Wages 
which  fell  below  the  cost  of  bare  subsistence  coupled 
with  rising  rents  and  famine  prices  for  bread  could 
but  stir  up  the  spirit  of  insurrection;  for  eco- 


Introduction  19 


nomic  distress  will  frequently  provoke  men  to 
action  when  political  disabilities  call  forth  only 
harmless  complaint. 

The  result  was  a  period  of  incessant  agitation 
for  reform  —  for  the  liberalizing  of  the  Government 
so  that  laws  might  be  made  according  to  the  de- 
sires of  the  majority  of  the  people,  for  the  imme- 
diate repeal  of  obnoxious  class  legislation  like  the 
Corn  Law,  and  for  the  cutting  off  of  aristocratic 
sinecures  and  every  other  excrescence  which  made 
the  burdens  of  the  ordinary  people  harder  to  be 
borne.  Led  by  William  Cobbett,  editor  of  the 
Weekly  Political  Register,  Major  John  Cart- 
wright,  and  others,  the  liberal  element  (organized 
into  the  Radical  Party  in  1819)  entered  upon  a 
campaign  which  soon  stirred  the  whole  population 
and  caused  the  Government  to  take  stern  measures 
to  prevent  the  growth  of  the  disaffection.  Riots 
and  popular  demonstrations  of  every  character  be- 
came common  and  on  several  occasions  —  notably 
the  gathering  at  Spa  Fields,  London,  in  1816,  and 
the  Manchester  Massacre  (or  "battle  of  Peterloo") 
in  1819  —  the  assemblies  of  the  people  to  protest 
and  organize  against  the  existing  state  of  things 
were  forcibly  broken  up. 

Success  was  destined  to  reward  the  agitators, 
but  not  until  after  many  years  and  in  many  cases 
in  ways  quite  different  from  those  they  had  mapped 
out.  In  the  meantime,  during  the  period  from  about 
1815  to  1820,  while  the  movement  was  yet  young 
and  far  from  promising,  many  men  became  dis- 


2O  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

couraged  or  impatient  and  sought  the  relief  in  emi- 
gration which  they  could  see  little  reason  to  hope 
for  if  they  remained  in  their  old  homes.  "A  nation," 
declared  one  of  these,  "with  half  its  population  sup- 
ported by  alms,  or  poor-rates,  and  one  fourth  of  its 
income  derived  from  taxes,  many  of  which  are  dried 
up  in  their  sources,  or  speedily  becoming  so,  must 
teem  with  emigrants  from  one  end  to  the  other: 
and,  for  such  as  myself,  who  have  had  'nothing  to 
do  with  the  laws  but  to  obey  them/  it  is  quite  reason- 
able and  just  to  secure  a  timely  retreat  from  the 
approaching  crisis  —  either  of  anarchy  or  despot- 
ism." About  1817-18  the  desire  to  emigrate  spread 
over  the  entire  country  and  affected  all  classes  of 
people  except  the  privileged  aristocrats.  The  land 
to  which  men  looked  for  a  new  home,  one  which 
would  be  free  from  the  oppressions  of  an  aristo- 
cratic government  and  the  distress  occasioned  by  its 
economic  policies,  was  quite  naturally  the  United 
States.  In  the  first  place  its  population  was  made 
up  predominantly  of  English-speaking  people, 
bound  to  English  people  everywhere  by  numerous 
ties  of  sentiment  and  interest.  In  the  next  place  it 
had  at  its  disposal  a  superabundance  of  the  choicest 
of  land,  which  it  was  ready  to  bestow  at  inconsider- 
able cost.  Even  in  the  Eastern  states  land  could  be 
had  at  reasonable  rates,  and  beyond  the  Alleghenies, 
especially  in  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  to  the  westward, 
it  need  only  be  entered  according  to  legal  process 
and  paid  for  within  four  years  at  the  rate  of  two 
dollars  an  acre.  Finally,  the  rapidly  expanding 


Introduction  21 


manufactures  of  the  United  States,  created  largely 
during  the  war  period,  called  for  thousands  of 
skilled  laborers,  so  that  English  mechanics  and 
artisans  could  expect  to  find  profitable  employment 
without  being  compelled  to  resort  to  the  unaccus- 
tomed occupation  of  agriculture. 

As  a  consequence  of  discouraging  conditions  at 
home  and  liberal  advertising  of  the  opportunities 
offered  in  America,  emigration  became  easily  the 
most  discussed  subject  of  the  times,  aside  from 
the  transcendent  question  of  reform.  That  the 
actual  migration  in  the  years  after  1815  was  large 
is  abundantly  attested,  not  only  by  fragmentary 
evidences  in  contemporary  American  records,  but 
also  by  the  files  of  all  the  important  English  news- 
papers and  magazines  of  the  period.  On  the  one 
hand,  accounts  of  popular  meetings  in  the  interest 
of  emigration  to  America  are  abundant,  and  on 
the  other  innumerable  editorials  and  articles  bewail 
the  departure  of  the  tillers  of  the  soil,  and  also 
of  not  a  few  capitalists,  for  an  alien  country.  The 
press  made  a  united  demand  upon  Parliament  to 
stop  the  "ruinous  drain  of  the  most  useful  part  of 
the  population  of  the  United  Kingdom,"  and  all 
manner  of  arguments,  including  many  palpable 
falsehoods,  were  brought  forth  to  dissuade  men 
from  migrating.  But  it  was  to  no  avail.  People 
came  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  both  country 
and  city,  to  the  ports  to  take  passage.  We  are  told 
that  229  English  immigrants  landed  at  New  York 
in  a  single  week,  and  that  in  the  week  ending  Au- 


22  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

gust  23,  1817,  1500  arrived  at  the  five  ports  of 
New  York,  New  London,  Perth  Aniboy,  Philadel- 
phia, and  Boston.  Nor  were  the  immigrants  all, 
or  even  generally,  of  the  poorest  class.  English  law 
forbade  vessels  to  carry  more  than  two  passengers 
for  each  ton,  and  this  restriction  was  in  itself  suffi- 
cient to  keep  passenger  rates  at  a  high  figure  and 
to  preclude  the  pauper  class  from  taking  passage. 
This  fact  only  increased  the  indignation  of  the 
English  press,  since  the  people  who  migrated  were 
almost  exclusively  the  fairly  well-to-do  who  could 
most  ill  be  spared.  In  his  Sketches  of  America, 
published  in  London  in  1819,  Henry  Bradshaw 
Fear  on  tells  us  that  by  1817,  when  he  was  deputed 
by  thirty-nine  English  families  to  visit  the  United 
vStates  and  ascertain  what  portions  of  the  country 
were  best  adapted  to  settlement  by  Englishmen, 
"Emigration  had  .  .  .  assumed  a  totally  new 
character:  it  was  no  longer  merely  the  poor,  the 
idle,  the  profligate,  or  the  wildly  speculative,  who 
were  proposing  to  quit  their  native  country;  but 
men  also  of  capital,  of  industry,  of  sober  habits  and 
regular  pursuits,  men  of  reflection  who  apprehended 
approaching  evils ;  men  of  upright  and  conscientious 
minds,  to  whose  happiness  civil  and  religious  liberty 
were  essential;  and  men  of  domestic  feelings,  who 
wished  to  provide  for  the  future  support  and  pros- 
perity of  their  offspring." 

While  the  controversy  regarding  the  expediency 
of  the  settlement  of  Englishmen  in  America  was 
raging,  an  enterprise  of  large  moment  was  under- 


Introduction  23 


taken  by  two  gentlemen  of  wealth  and  influence  liv- 
ing in  the  vicinity  of  London — Messrs.  Morris 
Birkbeck  and  George  Flower.  This  was  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  agricultural  colony  in  southeastern 
Illinois,  in  the  portion  of  Edwards  County  which 
afterwards  came  to  be  known  as  the  English  Prai- 
rie. Morris  Birkbeck  (1763-1825)  was  a  successful 
practical  farmer  of  Quaker  origin  who  very  well 
represents  the  type  of  well-to-do  middle  class  Eng- 
lishmen in  this  period  who  were  dissatisfied  with 
conditions  in  England  and  saw  little  prospect  of  an 
early  improvement.  Happening,  in  1816,  to  meet 
the  American  diplomat,  Edward  Coles,  who  was 
returning  from  a  mission  to  Russia,  he  first  got 
from  him  an  authoritative  idea  of  the  vast  extent 
of  unoccupied  lands  in  the  Illinois  country.  After 
some  reflection  he  determined  to  sell  his  estate  near 
London,  migrate  to  Illinois  with  his  family,  and 
there  prepare  the  way  for  the  establishment  of  a 
colony  of  discontented  English  country  laborers. 
Doubtless  he  expected  to  better  his  own  fortunes, 
but  his  project  seems  to  have  been  shaped  in  no 
small  degree  by  philanthropic  considerations.  An- 
other English  farmer  of  similar  station,  George 
Flower,  was  attracted  by  the  scheme  and  decided 
to  join  his  old  friend  in  it.  In  the  summer  of  1816 
Flower  came  out  to  America  in  advance  to  get  a 
personal  knowledge  of  the  land  and  its  people.  He 
visited  various  sections  of  the  country,  including 
the  West,  and,  returning  to  Virginia  in  the  autumn, 
spent  most  of  the  winter  with  Thomas  Jefferson  at 


24  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

Monticello.  The  following  spring  Birkbeck,  with 
his  family,  landed  at  City  Point,  Virginia,  and  with 
Flower  proceeded  to  the  Illinois.  A  tract  of  16,000 
acres  of  unbroken  prairie  was  in  part  purchased 
outright  and  in  part  designated  to  be  taken  up  later, 
and  on  this  it  was  planned  to  locate  the  prospective 
colonists.  The  purchase  lay  in  Edwards  County, 
which  at  that  time  embraced  an  immense  area,  ex- 
tending almost  from  the  Ohio  to  Upper  Canada  and 
including  a  portion  of  the  present  state  of  Wis- 
consin. The  two  promoters  then  began  to  build 
log  huts,  import  furniture,  and  make  other  prepara- 
tions for  the  influx  of  settlers.  Reports  of  the  most 
optimistic  character  were  sent  back  to  England, 
with  the  result  that  a  new  stimulus  was  given  to 
emigration,  though  many  of  the  persons  thus  at- 
tracted found  land  that  suited  them  without  going 
so  far  west  as  to  the  English  Prairie. 

In  the  same  year  in  which  the  settlement  was 
begun  Birkbeck  published  a  book  under  the  title 
Notes  on  a  Journey  in  America  from  the  Coast  of 
Virginia  to  the  Territory  of  Illinois,  with  Proposals 
for  the  Establishment  of  a  Colony  of  English  (Phil- 
adelphia, 1817).  The  next  year  another  book,  Let- 
ters from  Illinois  (London,  1818),  appeared  from 
the  same  author.  Both  attracted  widespread  atten- 
tion in  England,  and  the  English  Prairie  settlement 
became  the  center  about  which  was  waged  the  whole 
controversy  over  the  expediency  of  emigration  of 
English  people  to  America.  Birkbeck's  writings 
represented  emigration,  particularly  if  directed  to 


Introduction  25 


his  section  of  Illinois,  as  an  enviable  escape  from 
political  oppression  and  economic  ruin  and  a  sure 
road  to  good  fortune  and  happiness.  Some  of  those, 
however,  whom  he  induced  to  settle  in  the  western 
country  were  keenly  disappointed,  and,  embittered 
by  ill-luck  or  the  hardships  of  frontier  life,  sent 
back  reports  denouncing  Birkbeck  in  no  uncertain 
terms  and  asserting  that,  having  been  himself  de- 
ceived in  the  character  of  the  American  interior, 
he  was  seeking  to  recoup  himself  by  selling  his 
lands  to  unsuspecting  emigrants.  The  letters  of 
the  malcontents  were  seized  upon  and  made  use  of 
with  avidity  by  those  who  were  laboring  to  restrain 
emigration,  while  on  the  other  hand  men  who  were 
satisfied  with  the  Western  settlement  or  who  had 
interests  involved  in  its  prosperity,  as  warmly  de- 
fended Birkbeck's  project.  The  result  was  a  veri- 
table war  of  the  newspaper  writers  and  pam- 
phleteers—  a  war  in  the  first  instance  between  two 
groups  of  English  writers  attacking  and  defending, 
respectively,  the  policy  of  emigration;  and  in  its 
later  phase  between  the  English  who  satirized 
American  conditions  and  the  Americans  who  re- 
sented this  procedure  and  declaimed  vehemently 
against  it.  While  the  literary  belligerents  talked 
and  wrote,  the  people  continued  to  migrate.  Ad- 
lard  Welby,  a  conservative  Englishman  who  made  a 
tour  of  inspection  in  the  West  in  1819,  very  fairly 
summed  up  the  situation  when  he  said:  "These 
favorable  accounts  [the  writings  of  Birkbeck], 
aided  by  a  period  of  real  privation  and  discontent 


26  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

in  Europe,  caused  emigration  to  increase  ten-fold; 
and  though  various  reports  of  unfavorable  nature 
soon  circulated,  and  many  who  had  emigrated  actu- 
ally returned  to  their  native  land  in  disgust,  yet 
still  the  trading  vessels  were  filled  with  passengers 
of  all  ages  and  descriptions,  full  of  hope,  looking 
forward  to  the  West  as  to  a  land  of  liberty  and 
delight  —  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey  —  a 
second  land  of  Canaan." 

The  ablest  attack  upon  the  English  Prairie 
scheme  was  made  by  William  Cobbett,  the  noted 
Radical  leader  and  pamphleteer,  who,  in  1818,  pub- 
lished his  Year's  Residence  in  the  United  States  of 
America  (New  York,  1818),  by  way  of  a  reply  to 
Mr.  Birkbeck' s  books.  Cobbett  was  not  opposed 
to  emigration  from  England  in  itself,  but  he  sav- 
agely denounced  Birkbeck  and  all  others  who 
sought  to  induce  the  emigrant  to  go  beyond  the 
Alleghenies  in  search  of  a  home.  His  writing  upon 
this  subject  was  done  at  a  farm  in  Long  Island 
where  he  was  living  in  virtual  exile,  with  prosecu- 
tion for  political  offenses  hanging  over  him  if  he 
returned  to  British  jurisdiction.  It  cannot  be  known 
definitely  whether,  as  Birkbeck  declared,  he  was 
practically  bought  up  by  Eastern  capitalists  to  ad- 
vocate the  settling  of  immigrants  in  the  seaboard 
states  rather  than  on  the  western  prairies,  but  in 
any  case  this  was  the  policy  he  urged  with  uncom- 
promising fervor.  For  information  as  to  what 
really  were  the  conditions  at  the  English  Prairie 
Cobbett  made  use  of  Thomas  Hulme's  Journal  made 


Introduction  27 


during  a  Tour  in  the  Western  Countries  of  Amer- 
ica: Sept.  30,  1818  —  August  7,  1819.  Hulme  was 
an  honest  English  farmer,  strongly  Radical  in  prin- 
ciples and  a  follower  of  Cobbett.  On  the  whole  his 
Journal,  however,  exhibits  a  favorable  attitude 
toward  the  Birkbeck  enterprise,  and  it  was  only  by 
twisting  its  statements  and  utterly  ignoring  their 
real  import  that  the  vilifying  pamphleteer  could 
adapt  them  to  his  ends.  Cobbett' s  attack,  which  was 
renewed  in  successive  editions  of  his  book  and  in 
other  writings,  brought  the  English  Prairie  settle- 
ment its  highest  measure  of  notoriety,  though 
scarcely  to  its  profit.  Birkbeck  kept  up  his  side  of 
the  controversy  in  similar  new  editions  and  inci- 
dental effusions,  and  was  not  lacking  in  out-spoken 
supporters.  Chief  among  these  was  Richard 
Flower,  father  of  George  Flower,  who  in  1818 
sold  his  estate  in  Hertfordshire  and  joined  his  rela- 
tives and  former  neighbors  in  Illinois.  In  1819  he 
published  Letters  from  Lexington  and  the  Illinois, 
containing  a  Brief  Account  of  the  English  Settle- 
ment in  the  Latter  Territory,  and  a  Refutation  of 
the  Misrepresentations  of  Mr.  Cobbett  (London, 
1819)  ;  and  somewhat  later  Letters  from  the  Illi- 
nois, 1820,  1821.  Containing  an  Account  of  the 
English  Settlement  at  Albion  and  its  Vicinity,  and 
a  Refutation  of  Various  Misrepresentations,  Those 
more  particularly  of  Mr.  Cobbett  (London,  1822). 
In  1821  John  Woods,  a  well-to-do,  practical,  and 
observant  English  farmer  who  had  but  lately  estab- 
lished a  home  in  the  West,  published  Two  Years' 


28  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

Residence  in  the  Settlement  on  the  English  Prairie, 
in  the  Illinois  Country,  United  States.  This,  like 
Flower's  books,  was  a  sane,  honest  description  of 
the  settlement,  which  contrasted  markedly  in  these 
qualities  with  the  glib  criticisms  of  writers  like 
Cobbett,  and  showed  that  if  conditions  and  pros- 
pects were  not  quite  so  roseate  as  Birkbeck  pictured 
them  they  were  at  least  immeasurably  better  than 
the  detractors  would  have  people  believe. 

Other  books  of  this  period,  written  by  English 
travelers  and  settlers  and  containing  noteworthy 
descriptions  of  the  English  Prairie  in  particular  or 
of  the  Illinois  country  in  general,  are :  ( I )  Henry 
Bradshaw  Fearon's  Sketches  of  America.  A  Nar- 
rative of  a  Journey  of  five  thousand  miles  through 
the  Eastern  and  Western  States  of  America;  with 
Remarks  on  Mr.  Birkbeck's  "Notes"  and  "Letters" 
(London,  1819);  (2)  Adlard  Welby's  Visit  to 
North  America  and  the  English  Settlements  in  Illi- 
nois, with  a  Winter  Residence  at  Philadelphia  (Lon- 
don, 1821);  (3)  William  Tell  Harris's  Remarks 
made  during  a  Tour  through  the  United  States 
of  America  during  the  years  1817,  1818,  and 
1819  (London,  1821);  (4)  James  Flint's  Letters 
from  America  (Edinburgh,  1822)  5(5)  George  W. 
Ogden's  Letters  from  the  West,  comprising  a  Tour 
through  the  Western  Country,  and  a  Residence  of 
two  summers  in  the  States  of  Ohio  and  Kentucky 
(New  Bedford,  1823) ;  and  (6)  William  Faux's 
Memorable  Days  in  America:  being  a  Journal  of 
a  Tour  to  the  United  States,  principally  undertaken 


Introduction  29 


to  ascertain,  by  positive  evidence,  the  condition  and 
probable  prospects  of  British  Emigrants;  including 
accounts  of  Mr.  Birkbeck's  settlement  in  the  Illinois 
(London,  1823).  Of  these  six  writers  it  may  be 
added  simply  that  Fearon  was  an  agent  sent  out 
by  thirty-nine  English  families  to  ascertain  what 
parts  of  the  United  States  were  best  adapted  to  set- 
tlement; Welby  was  a  conservative  farmer  of  the 
upper  middle  class,  prone  to  display  in  his  writings 
a  degree  of  insularity  and  prejudice  even  beyond 
that  displayed  by  the  average  English  traveler  of 
the  time;  Harris  was  a  fair-minded  student  of 
agrarian  questions  who  came  to  America  "with  a 
view  to  estimating  the  advantages  the  United  States 
were  represented  to  afford;"  Flint  was  a  Scotch 
economist  who  emigrated  primarily  to  study  prices, 
wages,  land  questions,  and  labor  problems,  but  who 
found  pleasure  in  observing  and  recording  his  im- 
pressions of  all  sorts  of  things  having  little  connec- 
tion with  economics;  Ogden  was  an  agriculturist 
and  traveler  of  much  the  same  type  as  Harris ;  and 
Faux  was  another  farmer  whose  object  in  visiting 
the  United  States  was  to  investigate  the  advisabil- 
ity of  English  migration  thither  —  a  writer  who, 
though  of  inferior  grade,  yet  in  his  characteristic 
blunt  and  inelegant  manner  supplies  much  valuable 
information. 

One  of  the  party  of  nine  which  accompanied  Birk- 
beck  to  America  in  the  spring  of  1817  was  a  young 
Englishman  by  the  name  of  Elias  Pym  Fordham, 
author  of  the  letters  and  journal  herewith  published. 


30  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

The  family  to  which  Fordham  belonged  is  among 
the  oldest  in  Eastern  England.  The  claim  is  made 
that  its  line  of  descent  can  be  traced  back  with  ease 
as  far  as  the  time  of  King  Stephen.  For  eight  cen- 
turies its  ancestral  estates  in  Hertfordshire  and 
Cambridgeshire  have  passed  from  generation  to 
generation,  and  they  are  today  in  the  possession  of 
a  branch  of  its  vigorous  descendants.  Elias  Ford- 
ham,  father  of  Elias  Pym,  was  born  in  1763,  and 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one  married  Mary  Clapton, 
one  of  the  last  descendants  of  an  honorable  old  fam- 
ily which,  among  other  distinctions,  had  furnished 
Elizabeth  a  lord  chancellor.  The  elder  Fordham 
is  described  as  a  lively,  bright,  and  happy  man, 
whose  admirable  character  and  gracious  manner 
won  for  him  a  multitude  of  friends.  He  was  edu- 
cated to  be  a  Trinitarian  minister  and  for  some 
years  had  charge  of  a  congregation  of  that  faith; 
but,  suffering  an  attack  of  throat  trouble,  he  decided 
after  a  time  to  abandon  the  ministry  and  to  become 
a  brewer.  In  the  new  occupation  he  was  doing  well, 
until  one  night  while  riding  near  his  home  his  horse 
stumbled  over  a  tipsy  man  who,  when  aroused,  man- 
aged to  mumble  that  "it  was  all  along  of  Fordham's 
fine  ale."  The  incident  troubled  the  conscientious 
brewer  and  the  upshot  was  that  he  gave  over  the 
business,  retired  to  Gannock  where  he  had  some 
property  and,  renting  a  tract  of  land  of  his  brother, 
spent  the  rest  of  his  life  as  a  farmer.  During  his 
later  years  he  occupied  much  of  his  time  with  occa- 
sional preaching,  though  diligent  study  of  his  Bible 


Introduction  3'! 


had  led  him  to  reject  the  Trinitarian  and  to  adopt 
the  hitherto  despised  Unitarian  creed.  In  those 
days  Unitarianism  was  looked  upon  by  people  gen- 
erally with  horror;  yet  so  exemplary  and  sincere 
a  man  was  Fordham  that,  rank  dissenter  though  he 
had  become,  the  bishop  of  his  diocese  licensed  the 
kitchen  of  the  worthy  farmer's  residence  as  a  place 
for  public  worship. 

In  1808  Mrs.  Fordham  died,  leaving  two  sons, 
Elias  Pym  and  Charles,  and  five  daughters,  Anne, 
Maria,  Catherine,  Harriet,  and  Sophia.  Elias  Pym 
became  a  pupil  of  George  Stephenson  and  while  yet 
a  young  man  developed  into  a  capable  and  promis- 
ing engineer.  Despite  his  enviable  prospects,  how- 
ever, he  was  seized  with  the  fever  for  migration  to 
America  which  spread  over  England  about  1816 
and  instead  of  settling  in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession at  home  began  to  cast  about  for  a  chance  to 
try  his  fortunes  in  the  New  World.  The  opportu- 
nity was  speedily  forthcoming.  George  Flower  was 
an  uncle  of  his  by  marriage,  and  when  Flower  de- 
cided to  take  part  in  Birkbeck's  projected  settlement 
in  the  Illinois,  Fordham,  who  was  then  twenty-nine 
years  of  age,  resolved  to  be  one  of  the  first  members 
of  the  new  colony.  As  has  already  been  related, 
Flower  came  to  America  in  1816,  in  advance  of  the 
rest  of  the  party.  Fordham  came  with  Birkbeck 
and  his  family  early  the  next  year.  The  vessel  on 
which  they  took  passage  from  Gravesend  brought 
them  to  the  James  River,  in  Virginia,  whence  the 
Birkbecks  continued  their  journey  westward  over 


32  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

the  mountains  to  Pittsburg,  traveling  in  a  phaeton 
and  a  light  Jersey  wagon,  and  thence  went  on  horse- 
back across  southern  Ohio  to  Cincinnati.  Fordham 
took  charge  of  the  equipment  which  was  being 
transported  to  the  new  settlement,  consisting  main- 
ly of  farming  implements  and  household  furniture, 
and  arranged  for  its  transportation  by  water  from 
Norfolk  to  Baltimore,  thence  overland  to  Pittsburg 
and  down  the  Ohio  River  to  Cincinnati,  where  the 
party  was  reunited  and  from  whence  it  proceeded 
across  southern  Indiana  to  the  site  of  the  prospec- 
tive colony. 

One  of  the  ladies  who  accompanied  the  expedition 
was  Fordham's  sister  Maria,  who,  being  in  ill- 
health,  had  been  sent  to  America  in  the  hope  that 
the  change  would  prove  beneficial.  In  the  Wabash 
country  she  soon  became  acquainted  with  a  French- 
man, Charles  de  la  Serre,  who  was  descended  from 
a  Huguenot  family  which  had  fled  from  France  at 
the  time  of  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes 
and  settled  in  Guernsey.  La  Serre  had  abandoned 
his  English  home  for  a  life  of  travel  and  sport  in 
the  American  wilderness  and,  when  discovered  by 
Flower,  was  spending  his  time  with  a  band  of  In- 
dians in  the  vicinity  of  the  English  Prairie.  In  a 
short  time  he  and  Maria  Fordham  were  married; 
but  the  young  wife  was  still  an  invalid  and  died  a 
few  years  later.  A  daughter,  born  in  July,  1823, 
was  the  mother  of  Dr.  Hubert  de  Laserre  Spence 
of  Cleveland,  through  whose  good  offices  it  has  been 


Introduction  33 


made  possible  to  publish  the  documents  contained 
in  this  book. 

Elias  Pym  Fordham  made  an  entry  of  land  in 
the  English  Prairie,  and,  from  the  outset  found 
abundant  labors  to  occupy  his  time  in  surveying, 
investigating  the  quality  of  lands  to  be  purchased, 
and  assisting  in  the  preparation  of  buildings,  mills, 
etc.,  for  the  use  of  prospective  settlers.  William 
Faux,  who  visited  the  Prairie  in  November,  1819, 
tells  us  in  his  Memorable  Days  in  America  that  he 
met  Fordham  and  that  the  young  emigrant  "never 
means  to  return  to  England,  except  rich,  or  to  be 
rich.  If  he  fails  here,  he  will  turn  hunter  and  live 
by  his  rifle  on  the  frontiers."  Concerning  his  actual 
fortunes  in  the  new  home  we  know  little,  but  in  any 
event  his  residence  in  America  was  comparatively 
brief.  We  hear  of  him  while  not  yet  a  middle-aged 
man  once  more  in  England  following  his  favored 
occupation  of  civil  engineering.  That  he  enjoyed  a 
high  reputation  for  skill  and  integrity  is  evidenced 
by  his  appointment  as  Engineer  to  the  Cinque  Ports 
—  a  position  in  those  days  of  no  small  trust  and 
responsibility.  He  is  known  also  to  have  been  em- 
ployed by  Stephenson  in  various  technical  under- 
takings of  national  importance. 

Late  in  1818  a  member  of  the  family  in  England 
made  a  transcript  of  portions  of  the  letters  and 
journals  which  Fordham  had  sent  home  during  the 
past  eighteen  months  from  Illinois.  The  collection 
(which  in  recent  years  has  come  into  the  hands  of 
Dr.  Spence)  was  given  the  title,  Extracts  from  Let- 


34  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

ters  written  on  a  Journey  to  the  Western  parts  of 
the  United  States,  and  during  a  residence  in  the 
Illinois  Territory,  By  an  English  Farmer.  Its 
authorship  has  been  positively  identified  and  though 
it  does  not  appear  in  all  cases  to  whom  the  individ- 
ual letters  were  addressed  this  is  not  a  matter  of 
much  importance ;  the  names  of  the  addressees  were 
omitted  by  the  transcriber  because  they  were  re- 
garded as  of  no  consequence  to  the  reading  public, 
and  because  the  persons  in  question  were  still  living 
and  did  not  desire  the  notoriety  of  appearing  by 
name  if  the  letters  were  printed.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
though  it  was  evidently  in  the  mind  of  the  trans- 
criber to  publish  the  manuscript  thus  prepared,  no 
further  steps,  so  far  as  we  know,  were  ever  taken 
toward  this  end. 

In  adding  another  to  the  already  long  list  of  pub- 
lished records  of  western  travel  in  the  early  part  of 
the  nineteenth  century  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  call 
attention  briefly  to  the  character  of  the  new  ma- 
terial and  the  degree  of  value  it  possesses  for  the 
student  of  western  history.  The  manuscript  falls 
naturally  into  three  parts:  (i)  a  series  of  seven 
letters,  written  between  May  18  and  November  15, 
1817,  from  as  many  different  places  in  the  West  and 
on  the  way  thither;  (2)  a  journal  of  daily  happen- 
ings on  and  about  the  English  Prairie  from  Decem- 
ber 7,  1817,  to  February  26,  1818;  and  (3)  another 
series  of  ten  letters,  written  between  February  3 
and  October  30,  1818,  chiefly  from  Kentucky,  Cin- 
cinnati, English  Prairie,  and  the  Indiana  settlements 


Introduction  35 


at  Princeton  and  New  Harmony.  Following 
roughly  the  chronology  of  Fordham's  experiences 
during  the  first  eighteen  months  of  his  sojourn  in 
America,  the  movements  which  he  recounts  and 
the  topics  which  he  discusses,  may  be  indicated 
somewhat  as  follows:  the  land  and  people  of  Vir- 
ginia, a  voyage  up  the  Chesapeake,  a  trip  on  the 
Pennsylvania  Road  from  Baltimore  to  Pittsburg, 
the  people  of  western  Pennsylvania,  the  city  of 
Pittsburg,  the  descent  of  the  Ohio  to  Cincinnati  by 
flat-boat,  the  land  and  people  of  southern  Indiana, 
establishing  the  settlement  at  the  English  Prairie, 
hardships  of  the  first  winter,  the  surveying  and 
entering  of  public  land,  prices,  wages,  and  labor  in 
the  West,  the  classes  of  people  on  the  frontiers,  a 
trip  through  Kentucky  to  Cincinnati,  the  character 
of  the  Kentuckians,  the  city  of  Cincinnati,  the  Rap- 
pite  settlement  at  New  Harmony,  and  the  prospects 
for  English  emigrants  in  the  American  interior. 

As  is  explained  in  the  Preface  prepared  by  the 
transcriber  of  the  letters,  the  author  wrote  under 
all  the  disadvantages  incident  to  the  life  of  the 
frontier  settler  and  explorer.  He  made  no  attempt 
to  relate  his  experiences  or  to  describe  the  Western 
people  and  country  in  a  systematic  and  thorough- 
going fashion.  He  probably  had  not  the  slightest 
idea  that  the  hurried  letters  which  he  despatched 
to  relatives  and  inquiring  friends  and  the  fragmen- 
tary journals  which  he  kept  for  their  amusement 
and  instruction  would  ever  be  put  in  print — at  least 
without  having  undergone  considerable  revision. 


36  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

What  we  have  in  his  writings  is  not  a  formal  com- 
pendium of  information,  like  Fearon's  Sketches  or 
Melish's  Travels  of  an  earlier  date,  but  simply  a 
personal  narrative  of  life  as  an  English  immigrant 
found  it,  and  learned  to  share  it,  in  a  favored  region 
of  the  growing  West.    The  claim  of  the  manuscript 
to  the  dignity  of  source  material  for  the  study  of 
Western  history  arises  from  its  author's  superior 
intelligence  and  training,  his  candor  and  utter  art- 
lessness,  and  his  rather  unusual  opportunities  for 
observation.    The  scientific  trend  of  mind  which  his 
professional  study  had  developed  saved  him  from 
numerous  errors  of  other  writers  and  led  him  to  a 
wholesome  comprehension  of  the  difficulty  of  de- 
scribing a  frontier  people  with  entire  fairness  and 
accuracy.    "I  find  it  no  easy  task/'  he  acknowledges 
frankly,  "to  write  descriptions  of  manners  and  opin- 
ions.   If  individual  pictures  only  be  drawn,  the  in- 
ferences must  be  in  part  erroneous ;  and  sketches  of 
a  more  comprehensive  nature  are  either  loose  and 
incorrect,  or  tame  and  unreadable."     In  the  main, 
Fordham  wrote  cautiously  and  conservatively,  con- 
fining himself  pretty  closely  to  what  he  had  himself 
seen  and  giving  the  reader  due  notice  when  speak- 
ing merely  from  hearsay.     His  only  object  was  to 
keep  his  relatives  and  friends  informed  concerning 
his  novel  experiences  and  to  give  them  such  facts 
as  he  felt  to  be  of  interest  regarding  the  country 
and  its  people.     He  had  no  ambition  to  be  known 
in  London  as  the  author  of  the  latest  book  on 
America. 


Introduction  37 


As  much  cannot  be  affirmed  of  most  English 
visitors  to  the  United  States  in  this  period,  whose 
writings  we  possess.  For,  as  Dr.  Thwaites  has  well 
said,  "Every  English  traveler  hither,  whether  his 
journey  was  that  of  a  serious  investigator  or  merely 
of  a  tourist  eager  to  behold  strange  lands  and  new 
conditions,  felt  impelled  to  give  his  personal  im- 
pressions in  volumes  of  varying  merit,  evincing 
every  shade  of  admiration  and  dislike."  Many  of 
these  books  were  mere  collections  of  letters  or 
diaries ;  only  a  very  small  number  were  in  the  nature 
of  systematic  treatises.  This  was  inevitable;  but 
the  unfortunate  thing,  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
historical  student  at  least,  is  that  most  of  these  pub- 
lications were  composed  with  a  definite  purpose 
either  to  promote  or  to  discourage  emigration.  In 
the  one  case,  America  was  pictured  in  the  most 
extravagant  manner  as  a  land  possessing  every  de- 
sirable physical  resource  and  condition,  inhabited  by 
a  people  of  rare  enlightenment,  and  offering  to 
every  newcomer  all  the  delights  of  material  pros- 
perity, free  institutions,  and  opportunity  for  un- 
limited advancement ;  in  the  other,  the  country  was 
represented  to  be  an  unhealthy  wilderness,  defying 
the  substantial  advance  of  civilization,  and  the  peo- 
ple to  be  the  off-scourings  of  Europe,  now  retro- 
graded almost  to  the  level  of  savages. 

Fordham  represents  the  type  of  English  emi- 
grant, all  too  rare,  who  appreciated  to  the  full  the 
manifold  inconveniences  and  deprivations  of  life  in 
a  new  country  but  yet  had  the  faith  to  believe  that 


38  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

the  difficulties  were  only  temporary  and  that  inces- 
sant industry  was  all  that  was  needed  to  transform 
the  crude  backwoods  settlements  into  flourishing 
and  enlightened  commonwealths.  Like  other  trav- 
elers, he  saw  many  things  —  slavery,  intemperance, 
ignorance,  lack  of  manners  —  of  which  he  could  not 
but  heartily  disapprove,  but  he  did  not  allow  these 
to  blind  him  to  the  fundamental  facts  of  American 
opportunity  and  achievement.  Without  in  any  sense 
posing  as  a  seer,  he  was  able  to  forecast  with  re- 
markable success  the  main  lines  along  which  the  de- 
velopment of  the  country  took  place  during  the  two 
formative  decades  after  he  wrote.  A  sane  optimism, 
a  clear  insight,  an  honest  purpose  —  these  were  the 
young  engineer's  best  qualifications  as  a  portrayer 
of  conditions  and  a  chronicler  of  events  in  the  Mid- 
dle West  of  his  day. 

F.  A.  O. 


FORDHAM'S    PERSONAL    NARRATIVE 
1817-1818 


ORIGINAL  PREFACE 

THE  following  pages  contain  extracts  from  letters 
written  by  a  young  man  to  his  friends  in  England. 
They  were  composed  under  every  disadvantage: 
sometimes  when  the  writer  was  surrounded  by  the 
noisy  inhabitants  of  a  smoky  cabin,  in  his  blanket 
tent,  or  in  the  bar  room  or  no  less  public  dormitory 
of  a  tavern.  As  he  wrote  to  intimate  and  dear 
friends,  and  without  any  thought  of  their  being 
presented  to  the  world,  the  writer  requests  it  may  be 
remembered  that  what  was  meant  for  the  eye  of 
friendship  alone  is  not  a  fair  subject  of  criticism. 

The  author  is  now  engaged  in  exploring  the  State 
of  Illinois,  and,  probably  will  have  further  and  bet- 
ter opportunities  of  describing  this  interesting  coun- 
try. Whether  he  will  appear  again  before  the  pub- 
lic will  be  determined  by  the  degree  of  favor  now 
shown  to  him. 

Nov.  2,  1818. 


FORDHAM'S  PERSONAL  NARRATIVE 


The  ocean  voyage  —  Ascent  of  the  James  —  A  Virginia  landscape  — 
Petersburg  —  The  Virginia  farmers  —  Voyage  from  Norfolk  to 
Baltimore  —  The  coasts  of  the  Chesapeake. 

On  board  the  Schooner  George  Whythe 
Chesapeak  Bay  May  i8th  1817. 

OUR  voyage  was  remarkably  quick  and,  to  those 
who  were  in  health,  agreeable.1  We  were  only  30 
days  from  Land  to  Land  and  32  from  the  Downs 
to  Cape  Henry,  the  entrance  to  the  Chesapeak.  In 
the  Gulf  Stream  we  had  stormy  weather,  but  I 
think  it  rather  added  to  the  spirits  of  the  party,  than 
otherwise,  for  it  afforded  continual  subject  for  con- 
versation and  admiration.  I  suppose  you  know  that 
the  Gulf  Stream  is  a  current  of  water  which  flows 
from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  round  the  point  of  Florida, 
up  the  coast  of  the  United  States;  then  spreading 
and  turning  gradually  to  the  westward;  less  per- 
ceptibly as  it  leaves  the  coast,  deposits  the  mud  of 
the  West  Indies  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland, 
then  passes  Eastward;  and  ultimately,  flowing 
Southward  down  the  coast  of  Africa,  is  again  car- 
ried by  the  trade  winds  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  "America"  (Captain  Heth),  on  which  Fordham  took  pas- 
sage, sailed  from  Gravesend,  March  30,  1817,  bound  for  Richmond, 
Virginia.  For  a  fuller  account  of  the  voyage  than  that  here  given 
see  Morris  Birkbeck,  Notes  (London,  1817),  pp.  5-11.  Some  other 
interesting  journals  of  voyages  of  Englishmen  across  the  Atlantic 
in  this  period  are:  John  Woods,  Two  Years'  Residence  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  pp.  179-184)  ;  Adlard  Welby,  Visit  to  North 
America  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xii,  pp.  151-163)  ;  and  Will- 
iam Faux,  Memorable  Days  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xi,  pp. 
33-53)- 


44  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

It  becomes  so  feeble  and  indistinct  after  it  reaches 
the  Azores  that  it  loses  its  name.  But  westward 
of  the  Banks  it  runs  at  one  or  two  miles  per  hour 
or  even  faster.  Bad  weather  is  always  expected 
within  its  current  which  varies  from  200  to  60  miles 
in  width.  If  fear  was  felt  at  any  time,  no  person 
in  the  cabin  expressed  it,  and  I  believe  none  felt  it. 
Indeed,  a  gale  of  wind  comes  on  so  gradually  that 
it  is  not  nearly  so  formidable  as  one  would  suppose 
it  would  be  to  a  landsman.  The  wind  rises  —  stud- 
ding sails  are  taken  in  —  the  waves  roughen  —  top 
gallant  sails  are  struck,  and  top-sails  are  reefed  — 
the  sky  looks  dark  and  darker  yet  —  the  waves  climb 
the  ship's  sides  and  the  spray  rattles  against  the 
cabin  windows  —  the  dead  lights  or  shutters  are  put 
in  —  the  Captain  and  the  officers  are  looking  out  to 
windward  —  a  squall  is  seen  in  the  distance,  upturn- 
ing the  billows  and  covering  their  crests  with  foam ; 
—  "Brail  up  the  Mizen  quick;  bear  up  the  helm  a 
weather;" — it  comes — we  are  prepared; — the  ves- 
sel stoops  before  it,  snorts  through  the  waves,  rises 
again  and  bounds  onward  like  a  stag.  One  day 
while  we  were  at  dinner  Mr.  B.  observed  that  the 
ship  snorted  more  than  usual,  when  the  first  mate 
came  in  and  said  "Captain,  a  heavy  squall  is  com- 
ing." The  Captain  left  his  knife  and  fork  sticking 
in  the  ham  he  was  carving,  and  went  out  to  give  the 
necessary  orders.  The  ladies  at  the  cabin  door,  the 
gentlemen  wrapped  in  boat  cloaks  and  holding  by 
the  shrouds,  awaited  its  coming.  It  did  come  —  the 
waves  dashed  over  us  —  the  leeward  ports  sunk  deep 


The    Voyage  45 

into  the  water;  "Man  the  yards" — but,  before  a 
man  had  reached  a  shroud,  in  one  instant,  the  fore- 
sail was  split,  rent  from  its  yard,  and  carried  in 
tatters  over  the  ship's  side.  After  this  we  lay  un- 
der stormstay  sails  for  24  hours,  but  the  heavy  swell 
that  followed  the  gale  sprung  the  bowsprit  and 
foretopmast. 

We  all  liked  our  Captain  exceedingly ;  next  to  the 
safety  of  the  ship  and  the  interest  of  the  owners,  the 
comforts  of  his  passengers  was  the  object  of  his 
attention.  Mr.  B.  drew  up  a  letter  of  thanks  for  his 
kindness  to  us,  which  we  all  signed,  and  presented 
to  him  the  day  before  we  left  the  ship;  he  was  so 
affected  by  it  that  he  could  not  restrain  his  tears. 

We  cast  anchor  in  Hampton  Roads  on  Saturday 
night,1  and  the  next  morning  proceeded  up  James 
River  with  a  fair  wind  and  a  clear  sky.  The  banks 
of  this  noble  stream  are  beautiful,  but  not  very 
healthy.  Land  is  worth  from  10  to  16  $  per  acre. 
After  running  up  90  miles  in  about  10  hours,  we  ar- 
rived at  a  mud-bank,  called  Harrison's  Bar.  A 
consultation  took  place  between  the  Captain  and 
Pilot  about  crossing  it;  at  high  tide  it  was  filled 
with  about  12  feet  of  water;  our  ship  drew  about 
15.  After  searching  for  the  softest  places,  the  ship 
was  steered  into  it  with  all  sails  set;  but  the  wind 
at  that  moment  died  away  and  of  course  we  all  got 
stuck  fast.8 


1  May  2,  1817. 

8 "May  6.  Harrison's  Bar. — This  is  a  shoal  of  mud,  which  greatly 
impedes  the  navigation,  and  in  which  we  must  be  contented  to  lie 
until  the  next  tide,  and  we  may  easily  content  ourselves,  as  it  is 


46  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

The  next  morning  the  Jolly  boat  was  sent  ashore 
with  part  of  the  passengers,  and  the  pinnace,  deco- 
rated and  manned  with  eight  of  the  smartest  sailors, 
took  Mr.  B.,  the  ladies,  and  the  Captain  to  Mr. 

H 's,  who  is  an  acquaintance  of  the  Captain's. 

Mr.  H.  was  not  at  home,  but  M™.  H.  received  the 
party  with  politeness.  There  was  a  great  deal  of 
company  there  and  everything  in  and  about  the 
house  was  most  elegant.  After  staying  some  time, 
sweetmeats  were  handed  round  by  a  train  of  black 
servants  and  the  party  received  pressing  invitations 
to  return  the  next  day. 

I  landed  with  the  boys  and  young  men  on  the 
opposite  shore,  on  a  most  beautiful  and  picturesque 
bank  which  was  covered  with  acacias  in  full  blos- 
som, almond  trees  covered  with  flowers  of  snowy 
whiteness,  cedars,  weeping  willows,  mountain  ashes, 
laurestinas, l  wild  grape-vines,  and  almost  every 
Shrub  that  is  to  be  seen  in  the  Green  house  or  Pleas- 
ure grounds  of  an  English  gentleman.  After  pene- 
trating this  thicket,  which  edged  the  winding  bank 
for  many  a  mile,  we  found  ourselves  among  fields 
of  wheat  and  Indian  corn,  just  springing  out  of  the 
ground.  The  landscape  was  composed  of  dark  for- 
ests crowning  every  hill,  the  sides  partially  cleared 

a  bend  of  the  river,  which  is  surrounded  by  all  that  is  beautiful  in 
woodland  scenery,  in  the  gayest  dress  of  spring.  We  are  fixed 
about  the  middle  of  the  stream,  which  is  four  miles  wide.  Several 
rich  plantations  and  substantial  dwellings  are  in  view." — Morris 
Birkbeck,  Notes,  p.  14.  In  more  recent  times  Harrison's  Bar  has  been 
known  as  Harrison's  Landing.  It  is  about  twenty  miles  up  the 
James  from  the  mouth  of  the  Chickahominy. 

!The  laurestina   (Viburnum  tinus)   is  an  evergreen  shrub  which 
blooms  during  the  winter  months.    It  is  a  native  of  southern  Europe. 


The    Voyage  47 

and  cultivated,  and  narrow  vallies  or  rather  ravines, 
clothed  with  shrubs  which  were  beautiful  beyond 
description  scented  the  air  with  delightful  perfumes, 
conducted  streams  of  fresh  water  which  were 
oftener  heard  than  seen  in  the  dark  recesses  of  the 
thickets.  Here,  while  a  fervid  sun  rendered  walk- 
ing in  the  open  fields  painful,  we  enjoyed  the  most 
refreshing  coolness,  and  birds  of  most  beautiful 
plumage  or  of  sweetest  notes  seemed  to  invite  us 
to  stay.  The  Mocking-bird  which  is  here,  as  the 
Robin  is  in  England,  esteemed  sacred,  would 
scarcely  avoid  us,  and  partridges,  turtle-doves,  and 
hares  started  up  at  every  step. 

These  delightful  regions  are  cultivated  by  lazy 
Slaves,  who  are  fat  and  comfortable  enough  in  their 
general  appearance,  but  who  are  never  trusted  out 
of  the  sight  of  the  Overseers;  nor  are  they,  I  am 
told,  trustworthy. 

After  two  days  of  excessive  exertion,  our  ship 
was  dragged  through  300  yards  of  mud,  into  which 
she  had  sunk  3  feet.  A  few  hours  carried  us  to 
City  point,1  a  poor  village,  situated  on  a  beautiful, 
but  unhealthy,  spot.  From  City  point  the  gentle- 
men went  in  gigs  to  Petersburg,  about  12  miles 
off,  to  get  Cleared  of  the  Custom  house.  These 

1  City  Point  is  located  at  the  mouth  of  the  Appomattox,  about 
thirty  miles  below  Richmond  and  ten  northeast  of  Petersburg.     It 
has  never  grown  to  be  a  place  of  importance. 

2  Petersburg  is  situated  on  the  Appomattox  River,  about  twenty- 
two  miles  south  of  Richmond.     Its  site,  as  well  as  that  of  Rich- 
mond, was  selected  by  Colonel  William  Byrd,  one  of  the  most  emi- 
nent  Virginians   of  the  early   eighteenth   century.     The   town   was 
incorporated  by   the   legislature  of  Virginia  in   1748.     During  the 
closing  campaigns  of  the  Revolution,  Petersburg  was  brought  into 


Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 


gigs  were  not  quite  equal  to  English  ones.  Having 
been  for  some  time  an  invalid,  I  was  afraid  of  being 
jolted,  and  tried  to  get  a  saddle-horse ;  but  that  was 
not  to  be  obtained.  The  saddle  hurt  the  horse  —  or, 
I  should  hurt  the  horse  —  or,  ride  too  fast ;  —  at  last 
a  light  sulky  was  found  for  me,  which,  when  the 
horse  trotted,  shook  my  poor  bones  unmercifully. 
Our  road  was  through  forests  of  pine,  live  oak, 
acacias,  and  many  ornamental  trees.  Spaces  of 
cleared  land  occurred  at  intervals,  with  shabby  farm 
houses,  and  now  and  then  fields  worn  out,  and  aban- 
doned to  the  growth  of  young  pines  and  weeds.  The 
land  is  not  very  good  here,  but  the  scenery  beauti- 
ful. 

Petersburg,  a  port  and  market  town,  was  half 
destroyed  by  fire  two  years  ago.  The  old  part  con- 
sists of  wooden  houses,  surrounded  by  balconies  and 
supported  by  posts.  The  Shops  are  like  wooden 
booths.  The  new  part,  which  already  contains  300 
handsome  brick  houses,  would  shame  most  of  the 
country  towns  of  England.  After  finishing  our 
business,  we  went  to  dine  at  a  tavern  with  about  60 

prominence  by  being  captured  by  the  British  from  Baron  Steuben 
in  1781,  and  by  serving  as  an  important  stopping-point  of  Cornwal- 
lis  in  the  movement  which  culminated  at  Yorktown.  When  the  Birk- 
beck-Fordham  party  visited  the  place  in  1817  to  attest  to  the  con- 
tents of  their  baggage  they  found  it  the  most  flourishing  in  that 
section  of  the  state.  "  Petersburg,"  writes  Birkbeck  (Notes,  pp. 
15-16),  "is  growing  into  a  place  of  importance,  being  the  emporium 
of  export  and  import  to  a  large  district.  Tobacco  is  the  staple  prod- 
uce; and  every  article  of  British  or  German  manufacture,  the  re- 
turn. It  is  not  quite  two  years  since  half  the  town  was  destroyed 
by  a  fire,  occasioned  by  some  negroes  playing  at  cards  in  a  stable, 
and  it  is  already  nearly  rebuilt  in  the  most  substantial  manner. 
Two  hundred  capital  brick  houses  were  built  last  year.  This  vigor- 
ous revival  under  a  calamity  so  general  is  a  strong  proof  of  general 
prosperity." 


The    Voyage  49 

farmers,  who  had  just  arrived  from  the  race- 
ground.  A  violent  rain  detained  the  whole  party  all 
night,  which  gave  us  an  opportunity  of  gaining 
some  information  from  the  most  intelligent  and 
communicative  guests  of  the  tavern.  When  I  speak 
of  a  Virginian  farmer,  at  least,  such  as  I  have 
hitherto  seen,  you  must  not  imagine  him  to  be  a 
plainly  dressed,  clownish  man:  nothing  is  more 
unlike;  he  is  usually  a  tall,  pale,  genteel  looking 
man ;  his  language  is  correct  and  good  with  no  vul- 
garisms in  pronunciation.  He  has  a  free,  inde- 
pendent, look.  His  easy  manners  and  loose  long 
dress  remind  you  of  a  Frenchman,  only  that  the 
latter  has  most  frequently  something  of  a  military 
appearance,  which  the  Virginian  has  not.  Their 
manners  are  too  familiar,  though  not  coarse.  They 
used  to  be  great  duellists ;  but  since  the  laws  against 
duelling  are  enforced  with  rigour,  the  young  men, 
I  am  told,  carry  dirks  and  decide  their  quarrels  upon 
the  spot.  This,  I  am  assured,  is  a  common  practice. 
One  young  man  was  cut  in  the  hand  by  a  dirk  at  the 
tavern  we  slept  at,  soon  after  we  went  to  bed.1 

Mr.  B.,  having  decided  to  go  to  the  Ohio  State  as 
soon  as  he  could,  enquiries  were  made  as  to  the 
most  eligible  mode  of  travelling.  Indian  corn  being 


1  Birkbeck  (Notes,  p.  16),  recounting  the  impressions  gained  dur- 
ing this  enforced  sojourn  at  the  Petersburg  tavern,  writes:  "A 
Virginian  planter  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and  exhibits  the  high- 
spirited  independence  of  that  character.  But  he  is  a  slave-master, 
irascible,  and  too  often  lax  in  morals.  A  dirk  is  said  to  be  a  com- 
mon appendage  to  the  dress  of  a  planter  in  this  part  of  Virginia. 
I  never  saw  in  England  an  assemblage  of  countrymen  who  would 
average  so  well  as  to  dress  and  manners :  none  of  them  reached 
anything  like  style ;  and  very  few  descended  to  the  shabby." 

4 


50  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

two  $  per  bushel  at  Richmond,  and  as  in  the  Moun- 
tains it  cannot  be  procured  for  any  number  of 
horses,  I  agreed  to  go  down  the  River  to  Norfolk1 
in  the  first  vessel  that  would  take  the  heavy  luggage. 
Mr.  B.  and  the  rest  of  the  party  went  to  Richmond 
last  Friday  week  in  the  Steam  boat;2 — then  with  the 
Phaeton  and  a  light  Jersey  waggon  they  will  pro- 
ceed across  the  mountains  westward.3  On  Satur- 


JThe  next  day  (May  3)  after  the  "America"  anchored  at  Hamp- 
ton Roads,  Captain  Heth  went  in  the  pilot-boat  to  Norfolk,  four- 
teen miles  distant,  to  make  entry  of  the  ship  at  the  Custom  House. 
He  was  accompanied  by  Birkbeck,  who  recorded  in  his  Notes  (p.  12) 
that  the  town  had  not  fewer  than  ten  thousand  inhabitants  and  that 
"  the  streets  are  in  right  lines,  sufficiently  spacious,  with  wide  paved 
causeways  before  the  houses,  which  are  good-looking  and  cleanly." 

2  This  was  May  9.  In  Birkbeck's  Notes  (pp.  19-20)  there  is  an 
interesting  description  of  the  Virginia  capital,  in  part  as  follows : 
"  Richmond  contains  13,000  inhabitants,  nearly  half  of  which  are 
negroes.  The  hill,  on  which  stands  the  Capitol,  a  building  of  com- 
manding aspect,  is  inhabited  by  the  more  opulent  merchants,  and 
professional  men,  who  have  their  offices  in  the  lower  town.  Their 
nouses  are  handsome,  and  elegantly  furnished,  and  their  establish- 
ments and  style  of  living  display  much  of  the  refinement  of  polished 
society.  The  town  is  generally  well  built,  and  increasing  rapidly, 
whilst  but  little  provision  seems  to  be  made  in  the  country  round 
for  the  accommodation  of  its  inhabitants.  The  market  is  badly 
supplied;  the  common  necessaries  of  life  are  excessively  dear, 
and,  excepting  the  article  of  bread,  of  bad  quality.  .  .  .  It  is 
worse  supplied  and  at  a  dearer  rate  than  any  other  place  of  equal 
size  in  the  United  States,  or  perhaps  in  the  world.  The  town  is 
forced  up  by  the  stimulus  of  commerce,  whilst  the  surrounding 
country  is  groaning  tinder  the  torpid  influence  of  slavery :  the 
cultivators  are  said  to  be  jealous  of  its  rising  prosperity,  instead  of 
availing  themselves,  as  they  might,  of  the  advantages  it  would  af- 
ford as  a  market  for  their  produce.  .  .  .  The  enterprizing  peo- 
ple are  mostly  strangers :  Scotch,  Irish,  and  especially  New  Eng- 
land men,  or  Yankees,  as  they  are  called,  who  fill  every  house  as 
soon  as  it  is  finished." 

s Birkbeck  and  his  nine  companions  left  Richmond  May  17,  "in 
two  hacks,  which  are  light  coaches  with  two  horses,  and  a  Jersey 
waggon  and  one  horse  for  the  baggage."  (Notes,  p.  26.)  Their 
route  to  the  West  was  as  follows :  from  Richmond  by  way  of  Fred- 
ericksburg  to  the  Potomac  River;  thence  to  Washington  by  steam- 
boat ;  thence  by  way  of  Fredericktown,  Maryland,  to  McConnells- 
town  [present  McConnellsburg]  Pennsylvania;  thence  along  the 


The    Voyage  51 

day  I  hailed  a  Schooner,  bound  to  Norfolk,  and 
agreed  with  the  master,  a  free  Negro,  to  take  me 
for  30$.  His  miserable  cabin  contained  Sailors, 
negroes,  and  a  half-bre[e]d  indian  woman  and  her 
child. 

At  Norfolk  I  arrived  on  Monday  morning.  That 
day  and  the  next  I  was  employed  in  looking  out  and 
bargaining  for  a  vessel  to  take  me  to  Baltimore. 
I  got  an  introduction  to  an  English  merchant  resid- 
ing at  Norfolk,  who  gave  me  much  assistance.  I 
engaged  a  small  bark  to  take  the  goods  and  myself 
for  44$,  and  sailed  on  Tuesday  evening.  On  board 
this  bark  I  am  at  this  moment.  It  is  a  tight  little 
Schooner,  commanded  by  a  respectable  young  man, 
only  22  years  old,  but  he  is  married  and  has  a  fam- 
ily. His  crew  consists  of  two  boys  and  one  man 
younger  than  myself.  Young  as  we  all  are  I  can 
assure  you  we  are  very  careful :  in  fact,  Mr.  Dennis 
is  rather  too  much  so  for  my  patience ;  for  I  want  to 
get  round  to  Cincinnati  in  time  to  join  Mr.  B.  who 
wishes  me  to  go  with  him  in  his  exploring  journey. 

I  have  now  been  six  days  out  from  Norfolk  and 
am  yet  200  miles  from  Baltimore.  The  Schooner 
though  nearly  full  of  our  luggage,  is  yet  so  lightly 
loaded,  that  she  does  not  stand  well  against  head 
winds  when  they  blow  hard.  We  have  run  into  har- 

Pennsylvania  State  Road  to  Pittsburg ;  thence  on  horseback  through 
Ohio  to  Cincinnati,  by  way  of  Canonsburg  and  Washington  (Penn- 
sylvania) Wheeling  (Virginia),  and  St.  Clairsville,  Zanesville, 
Somerset,  Rushville,  Lancaster,  Chillicothe,  Piketown,  Greenfield, 
Leesburg,  and  Lebanon  (Ohio)  ;  from  Cincinnati  to  the  English 
Prairie,  in  Edwards  County.  Illinois,  by  way  of  Madison,  Lexing- 
ton, Vincennes,  Princeton,  Harmony,  and  Mt.  Vernon  (Indiana), 
and  Shawneetown,  Illinois. 


52  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

hour  three  times  since  we  left  Norfolk.  The  coasts 
of  the  Chesapeak  thus  far  are  low.  The  farm 
houses,  which  I  have  yet  seen,  are  mean :  the  people 
live  in  a  plain  way.  Even  in  Norfolk,  though  there 
is  some  splendor,  there  is  little  Comfort  —  English 
Comfort  I  mean.  An  air  of  lazy  luxury  pervades 
everything. 

From  Baltimore  I  shall  proceed  over  land  to  Pitts- 
burg.  I  must  hire  waggons  for  the  luggage,  and, 
if  I  am  well  enough,  I  shall  walk  with  them.  But, 
if  I  feel  too  weak  for  that,  I  shall  go  by  the  stages 
to  Pittsburg,  and  thence  down  the  Ohio  to  Cincin- 
nati. My  tour  will  be  eleven  or  twelve  hundred  miles.1 

1  The  routes  to  the  West  from  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia,  as  well 
as  the  difficulties  of  the  journey  thither,  were  very  well  understood 
in  England  by  reason  of  the  numerous  letters  and  pamphlets  pub- 
lished by  English  travellers  and  settlers  who  had  been  over  the 
ground.  In  1817,  for  example,  appeared  John  Bradbury's  Travels 
in  the  Interior  of  America  in  the  Years  1809,  1810,  and  1811,  in 
which  the  course  to  be  pursued  by  the  newly  arrived  emigrant  was 
outlined  as  follows :  "  It  shall  be  supposed  that  the  design  of  the 
emigrant  is  to  proceed  to  the  countries  east  of  the  Alleghanies, 
therefore  he  ought  not  to  stay  more  than1  two  or  three  days  in  the 
city,  which  he  can  leave  when  he  pleases,  as  great  numbers  of  wag- 
gons start  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg,  or  from  Baltimore  to 
Pittsburg  or  Wheeling,  every  day.  The  charge  is  by  the  hundred 
weight,  both  for  passengers  and  their  luggage,  and  the  rate  varies 
from  five  to  seven  dollars  per  hundred ;  but  the  men  may  go  cheaper 
if  they  chuse  to  walk  over  the  mountains,  which  is  recommended. 
The  waggoners  travel  with  great  economy :  many  of  them  carry 
a  small  camp-kettle  with  them  to  cook  their  provisions,  and  some 
have  even  a  bed  in  their  waggons,  in  which  they  sleep  at  night.  A 
traveller  who  chooses  to  adopt  a  similar  mode,  may  travel  very 
cheap;  or,  as  there  are  plenty  of  inns  on  the  roads,  he  can  be  accom- 
modated every  night  with  beds,  at  a  very  reasonable  rate.  When 
the  emigrant  arrives  at  Pittsburg  or  Wheeling,  he  will  find  that 
numbers  of  Europeans  and  Americans  are  arriving  there  every  day, 
and  the  same  causes  that  operated  against  them  in  the  maritime 
cities,  as  respects  employment,  will,  in  some  degree,  have  an  effect 
here ;  but  as  he  will  have  occasion  for  information,  it  would  be  ad- 
visable for  him  to  stop  a  few  days  to  make  enquiries.  If  we  find 


The    Voyage  53 

P.  S.  There  is  expected  to  be  a  great  scarcity 
of  wheat.  Flour  at  Norfolk  is  worth  14^2$  per  bar- 
rel. Indian  Corn,  which  is  the  food  for  the  horses 
and  blacks,  and  much  eaten  by  poor  people,  is  2$ 
per  bushel.  Corn  bread,  when  new,  is  very  pal- 
atable, and,  I  believe,  wholesome.  I  have  eaten 
scarcely  any  other. 

When  you  consider  I  have  been  much  engaged, 
and  that  I  am  not  quite  in  health,  you  will  excuse 
the  negligent,  loose,  way,  in  which  I  have  written 
this  letter.  I  have  been  afflicted  with  headaches  ever 
since  the  Seasickness  left  me,  but  I  hope  I  shall  re- 
gain my  strength,  as  I  live  very  temperately.  The 
evening  air  is  dangerous  to  new  comers ;  for  after  a 
hot  day,  the  dew  falls  like  rain.  I  have  a  fire  lighted 
in  our  little  Cabin  every  evening.  Wood  costs  noth- 
ing but  the  fetching.  I  have  just  been  busying 
myself  in  chopping  up  a  fine  deal  board,  which  the 

it  necessary  to  descend  the  Ohio,  the  best  mode  of  proceeding  will 
be  to  enquire  for  one  or  more  families,  who  have  intentions  of  go- 
ing to  the  same  neighbourhood  as  himself,  who  may  join  him  in 
the  purchase  of  an  ark,  one  of  the  kind  of  vessels  in  which  fam- 
ilies descend.  These  arks  are  built  for  sale,  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  families  descending  the  river,  and  for  the  conveyance  of 
produce.  They  are  flat-bottomed,  and  square  at  the  ends,  and  are 
all  made  of  the  same  dimensions,  being  fifty  feet  in  length,  and 
fourteen  in  breadth ;  which  last  is  limited,  because  it  often  happens 
that  they  must  pass  over  the  falls  at  Louisville,  when  the  river  is 
at  a  low  state,  at  which  time  they  pass  betwixt  two  rocks  in  the 
Indian  schute,  only  fifteen  feet  asunder.  These  arks  are  covered, 
and  are  managed  by  a  steering  oar,  which  can  be  lifted  out  of  the 
water.  The  usual  price  is  seventy-five  dollars  for  each,  which  will 
accommodate  three  or  four  families,  as  they  carry  from  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  tons :  and  it  frequently  happens  that  the  ark  can  be 
sold  for  nearly  what  it  cost,  six  or  eight  hundred  miles  lower  down 
the  river."  EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  v,  pp.  300-302.  For  other  de- 
scriptions of  Ohio  River  craft  see  p.  79,  note. 


54  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

boys  found  on  the  shore.  It  went  against  my  con- 
science to  burn  such  a  piece  of  wood,  which  had 
scarcely  a  knot  in  it  and  would  have  made  four  or 
five  steps  for  a  handsome  Staircase. 


II 

Character  of  the  Virginians  —  Unhealthful  physical  conditions  — 
Baltimore  —  Communications  between  Baltimore  and  Pittsburg 
—  The  Marylanders  —  The  Pennsylvanians  —  The  East  and 
West  as  fields  for  settlement. 

Bedford?  in  Bedford  County 
Pennsylvania,  June  fth,  1817. 

I  THINK  I  gave  you  an  account  of  my  voyage  up 
the  Chesapeak.  That  little  trip  made  me  more  of  a 
Sailor  than  my  passage  across  the  Atlantic;  and 
I  felt  much  more  anxiety,  as  I  had  the  charge  of 
goods  worth  at  least  a  thousand  pounds,  which  could 
not  be  replaced.  The  whole  crew  of  the  little 
Schooner  were  one  night  so  fatigued  that  they  fell 

1  The  site  of  Bedford  near  the  headwaters  of  the  Juniata,  was 
first  occupied  in  1751,  though  the  place  was  known  for  some  time 
as  Raystown,  from  the  name  of  its  earliest  settler.  During  his 
campaign  against  Fort  Duquesne  in  1758,  General  Forbes  selected 
it  as  a  location  for  a  new  fort,  known  as  Fort  Bedford,  which  in 
the  Indian  wars  that  followed  became  a  stronghold  second  in  im- 
portance only  to  Fort  Pitt  in  the  contested  territory  of  western 
Pennsylvania.  The  town  of  Bedford  was  incorporated  by  the  Penn- 
sylvania legislature  in  1766.  By  the  end  of  the  century  it  had  come 
to  be  important  as  the  chief  halting  place  for  travellers  and  emi- 
grants going  westward  over  the  wagon  roads  from  either  Philadel- 
phia or  Baltimore  to  Pittsburg.  Practically  every  foreigner  who 
visited  the  West  and  left  a  record  of  his  experiences  and  observa- 
tions had  something  to  say  about  the  inevitable  sojourn  at  Bedford. 
Among  such  accounts  of  the  place  may  be  mentioned  Frangois 
Andre  Michaux,  Travels  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iii,  p.  145)  ; 
Fortescue  Cuming,  Sketches^  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  pp.  63- 
65)  ;  John  Melish,  Travels,  ii,  pp.  36-37;  and  Thomas  Nuttall,  Jour- 
nal (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xiii,  pp.  39-41).  Cuming,  in  1807, 
speaks  in  high  terms  of  both  the  appearance  of  the  town  and  the 
manners  of  its  people.  He  says  it  then  contained  about  eighty 
houses,  with  a  school  and  a  church.  Melish,  in  1811,  says  the 
town  was  thriving  and  that  it  had  547  inhabitants.  Visitors  to  the 
town  were  generally  struck  with  the  beauty  and  healthfulness  of 
its  location.  On  the  development  of  this  portion  of  Pennsylvania 
Jones,  History  of  the  Juniata  Valley  (Philadelphia,  1856)  may  be 
consulted  to  advantage. 


56  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

asleep  repeatedly  while  the  vessel's  head  was  plung- 
ing under  every  wave.  I  steered  her  four  hours  my- 
self. 

Of  the  Virginians  I  can  say  but  little  of  my  own 
observations,  but  I  hear  from  all  quarters  that  they 
are  urbane,  hospitable  and  generous.  They  have 
very  little  commercial  enterprise :  they  live  much  on 
their  own  Plantations,  which  they  cultivate  with 
little  spirit.  Almost  all  of  them  deplore  the  exist- 
ence of  Slavery;  though  they  think  it  must  be  con- 
tinued, now  it  is  introduced.  They  were  fond  of 
gaming  and  they  were  till  lately  great  duellists,  but 
both  practices  are  partially  put  a  stop  to  by  Laws 
lately  enacted.  It  seems  there  is  something  in  the 
influence  of  the  fervid  sun,  under  which  they  live, 
or  probably  in  their  education;  for  now  duelling  is 
prevented,  they  do  not  quarrel  the  less  frequently; 
but  they  (that  is  the  young  men)  draw  the  dirks, 
which  they  usually  wear,  and  stab  one  another  upon 
very  slight  provocations. 

It  is  said  they  are  peculiarly  addicted  to  Swear- 
ing :  I  do  not  think  they  are  more  so  than  the  Mary- 
landers  and  Pennsylvanians ;  but  all  Swear  a  great 
deal.  They  are  a  tall,  elegantly  shaped  race  of  men. 
The  gentlemen  are  fairer  than  Englishmen,  their 
faces  being  always  shaded  by  hats  with  extraordi- 
narily broad  brims.  The  poorer  people  and  over- 
seers are  very  swarthy:  on  the  hills  of  the  west- 
ward, very  healthy,  but  on  the  low  shores  of  the 
Chesapeak  very  much  otherwise. 


Baltimore  to  Pitts  burg  57 

I  landed  very  often ;  and,  sometimes  rambled  for 
miles  through  the  Pine  woods  with  my  gun.  At 
every  opening  where  I  saw  a  house  I  used  to  make 
up  to  it,  and  always  received  an  invitation  to  enter, 
and  sometimes  to  share  a  meal. 

The  Ague  and  Fever  are  very  common  here.  I 
gave  away  in  these  visits  all  my  bark  and  laudanum. 
They  would  send  a  negro  five  miles  through  the 
woods,  and  as  far  with  a  canoe  on  the  water,  for 
one  or  two  doses.  In  return  they  always  sent  milk 
or  anything  I  wanted.  The  medical  men  in  these 
districts  have  not  much  reputation.  I  have  no 
doubt  that,  with  an  Edinburgh  Dispensary,  I  could 
gain  a  good  income  in  any  of  these  unhealthy  dis- 
tricts, if  my  conscience  would  allow  me.  The  East- 
ern shores  of  the  Chesapeak  are  lower,  if  possible, 
than  the  western,  and  more  intersected  with 
marshes,  which  emit  a  most  offensive  effluvia.  Such 
is  the  quantity  of  decaying  vegetable  and  animal 
substances  on  these  Shores  that  the  stench  arises 
through  the  salt-water  when  touched  by  the  keel 
of  a  boat.  There  are  some  rich  meadows  here, 
which  cattle  can  scarcely  keep  down,  however  nu- 
merous they  may  be. 

From  Annapolis,1  a  beautiful  little  town  seen 

1  The  name  Annapolis  was  given,  in  1691,  to  the  Protestant  strong- 
hold in  Maryland  which  had  formerly  been  known  as  Providence. 
This  was  at  the  time  when  Maryland  became  a  royal  province  and 
the  capital  was  taken  away  from  the  Catholic  centre  St.  Mary's. 
The  town  was  located  on  the  Severn  River,  about  two  miles  from 
its  entrance  to  Chesapeake  Bay.  It  grew  very  slowly  and  was  a 
place  of  little  consequence  well  down  into  the  nineteenth  century. 
There  is  a  description  of  it  as  it  was  in  1807  in  Melish,  Travels,  i, 
pp.  189-190. 


58  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

from  the  water,  to  the  Petapsco1  the  country  is  hilly 
and  fine;  thence  to  Baltimore  is  hilly,  but  bare  of 
trees. 

Baltimore,2  except  that  it  has  not  such  Palaces 
as  Paris  can  boast  of,  nor  Churches  like  St.  Paul's 
in  London,  nor  is  quite  so  picturesque  as  Rouen 
nor  so  grand  in  itself  or  in  situation,  is  the  most 
beautiful  town  I  have  ever  seen.  It  has  no  bad 
streets;  but  all  the  liveliness,  with  scarcely  any  of 
the  dirt,  of  a  seaport.  It  contains  60,000  inhabi- 
tants. I  lodged  at  the  Fountain  Inn,  where  at  the 
time  Mr.  Munro,  the  president,  has  taken  up  his 
abode. 

Do  you  ask  me  how  I  like  this  Country?  Upon 
the  whole  very  much.  But  there  are  many  things 
to  disgust  an  Englishman.  There  is  too  much  Lux- 
ury; too  much  slavery  in  Virginia  and  Maryland. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  country  is  beautiful, 
most  of  the  people  are  well  informed;  some  men 
among  the  higher  orders  are  very  gentlemanly,  ele- 
gant in  their  manners  and  cultivated  in  their  under- 
standings. 

I  had  several  letters  of  introduction ;  and  the  gen- 
tlemen with  whom  I  became  acquainted  gave  me 

1  The  Petapsco  is  a  small  stream  flowing  into  Chesapeake  Bay 
about  twenty  miles  north  of  Annapolis  and  a  short  distance  south 
of  Baltimore. 

3  For  a  description  of  Baltimore  in  1806-07  see  Melish,  Travels, 
i,  pp.  184-185;  in  1817,  Fearon,  Sketches,  pp.  342-345;  and  in  1820, 
Woods,  Two  Years'  Residence  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  pp. 
187-196).  Fearon's  account  is  particularly  interesting.  He  gives  60,- 
ooo  as  an  estimate  of  the  population  of  the  city. 


Baltimore  to  Pittsburg  59 

much  good  advice  respecting  my  journey  and 
treated  me  with  great  kindness. 

Mr.  A.  joined  me  at  Baltimore. 

The  distance  from  this  place  to  Pittsburg  is  240 
miles,  across  four  ridges  of  mountains.  The  mail  is 
six  days  going  this  distance  —  the  waggons  sixteen. 
They  travel  at  12,  15  or  20  miles  per  day.  They 
avoid,  as  much  as  possible,  the  turnpike  roads,  & 
scramble  over  hills  and  mountains,  where  English 
waggons  would  be  dashed  to  pieces ;  but  these  light 
carriages,  built  in  a  masterly  way,  &  of  the  best 
materials,  seem  to  be  indestructible.  The  waggoners 
requested  that  we  keep  with  them  on  the  mountains ; 
for  the  combined  strength  of  several  men  is  neces- 
sary to  keep  the  waggons  from  upsetting  in  descend- 
ing the  cliffs.  The  horses  would  in  England  be  ad- 
mirably adapted  for  the  gig  or  coach.1 

Maryland,  which  I  have  now  traversed  from  Bal- 
timore to  its  Eastern  extremity,  is  very  hilly;  and 
westward,  very  mountainous.  Even  the  plains  be- 
tween the  ranges  would  be  reckoned  hilly  in  Eng- 
land. They  are  in  general  very  rich ;  and,  where  this 


*In  the  earlier  part  of  the  great  era  of  westward  migration  the 
most  important  thoroughfare  from  the  New  England  and  Middle 
states  to  the  Ohio  Valley  was  the  Pennsylvania  Road,  or  "Pitts- 
burg Pike,"  built  in  1785-87  by  act  of  the  Pennsylvania  legislature. 
It  extended  197  miles  from  Carlisle  to  Pittsburg,  along  very  nearly 
the  same  route  as  the  present  highway  between  the  two  places. 
Even  after  the  construction  of  the  Cumberland  Road,  in  1806-1818, 
from  Cumberland,  Maryland,  to  Wheeling,  Virginia  (and  subse- 
quently as  far  westward  as  Vandalia,  Illinois),  the  majority  of  trad- 
ers and  travellers  from  Baltimore  and  Washington,  as  well  as  from 
more  northern  points,  made  use  of  this  route,  coming  into  it  gen- 
erally from  the  south  at  McConnellstown  (present  McConnells- 
burg),  130  miles  from  Pittsburg.  Travellers  during  the  period  fol- 
lowing the  War  of  1812  were  invariably  astonished  not  only  at  the 


60  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

is  the  case,  the  people  are  so  too.  A  great  many 
Quakers  among  the  Marylanders  are  Slave-holders. 
They  are  not  like  the  Virginians;  being  a  mixture 
of  Dutch,  German,  Irish ;  boorish  when  poor,  rather 
reserved  when  rich;  very  inquisitive,  but  soon  re- 
pulsed. I  have  been  but  15  or  16  days  among  them, 
so  you  must  take  my  observations  as  giving  only  a 
hasty  sketch. 

As  soon  as  I  entered  Pennsylvania,  I  remarked  a 
different  people.  Here  are  no  slaves;  white  people 
are  seen  working  in  the  fields  and  roads.  They  are 
cleaner  than  the  Dutch,  but  the  latter  are  not  always 
boorish.  If  Maryland  be  the  land  of  hills,  Pennsyl- 
vania is  the  land  of  mountains.  We  have  struggled 
over  four  distinct  ridges  —  the  North  Mountains  — 
the  South  Mountains  —  the  Cove  Mountains  &  the 
Sidelong  Hills.  The  two  last  are  infested  with  ban- 
ditti, after  whom  about  40  young  men  went  with 
their  rifles  about  a  week  since.  These  men  have 
not  yet  attacked  travellers,  but  they  plunder  farmers 


difficulties  with  which  the  waggoners  had  to  contend  on  their  trips 
along  this  wilderness  highway,  but  also  at  the  amount  of  traffic 
actually  carried  on  under  such  disadvantages.  Writing  at  Bed- 
ford in  October,  1818,  Thomas  Nuttall  says,  in  his  Journal :  "  To 
judge  of  the  inland  commerce  carried  on  betwixt  Philadelphia  and 
Pittsburg,  a  stranger  has  but  to  view  this  road  at  the  present  sea- 
son. All  day  I  have  been  brushing  past  waggons  heavily  loaded 
with  merchandise,  each  drawn  by  five  and  six  horses ;  the  whole 
road  in  fact  appears  like  the  cavalcade  of  a  continued  fair"  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xiii,  p.  41).  Birkbeck  (Notes,  p.  36),  writing  in 
May,  1817,  says  that  the  money  paid  annually  for  the  conveyance  of 
goods  on  the  road  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg  exceeded  £300,000 
sterling.  For  contemporary  descriptions  of  the  traffic  westward  over 
the  Pennsylvania  highways  see  Cuming,  Sketches  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  iv,  pp.  25-76) ;  Melish,  Travels,  ii,  pp.  24-54 ;  Fearon, 
Sketches,  pp.  183-189;  and  Woods,  Two  Years'  Residence  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  pp.  197-216). 


Baltimore  to  Pittsburg  61 

of  their  clothes  and  cattle.  They  have  women  with 
them,  and  live  in  wigwams  among  the  rocks. 

My  health  having  suffered  from  a  severe  cold, 
which  I  could  not  attend  to  while  I  was  travelling 
with  the  waggons  and  as  I  could  hear  nothing  of  the 
three  hindermost,  I  stopped  here  yesterday  at  noon. 
Mr.  A.  went  on  with  the  first;  to-day  the  last  came 
up.  I  shall  proceed  to-morrow  by  the  Stage  to  the 
foot  of  the  Allegany  mountains;  and  if  I  hear  that 
the  roads  over  them  are  bad,  I  shall  again  march 
with  the  foremost  waggon  which  contains  the  Piano. 
We  have  already  saved  it  from  being  dashed  to 
pieces  twice :  it  is  a  high  load,  as  the  case  would  not 
lie  at  the  bottom  of  the  waggon.  If  I  hear  a  good 
account  of  the  road  I  shall  go  on  in  the  Stage  to 
Pittsburg,  which  I  shall  then  reach  in  three  days. 
At  Pittsburg  I  hope  to  meet  the  ladies :  Mr.  B.  and 

I  suppose  are  gone  to  explore  the  South 

Western  country. 

I  have  visited  to-day  the  mineral  springs;  about 
a  mile  and  a  quarter  from  this  little  town.1  I  met 
there  two  Philadelphians,  amiable  young  men.  It 
was  quite  refreshing  to  converse  with  people  of  re- 
fined and  English  manners,  after  having  lived  with 
waggoners  ten  days.  They  tell  me  that  land  within 
20  miles  of  Philadelphia  is  worth  50$  100$  150$ 

'In  writing  of  his  visit  to  Bedford  in  1807  Cuming  (Sketches) 
says  that  some  chalybeate  springs  strongly  impregnated  with  sulphur 
had  lately  been  discovered  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  town,  to 
which  great  medicinal  virtues  were  attributed.  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  iv,  p.  65).  Melish  (Travels,  ii,  p.  37),  in  1811,  remarks 
that  the  Bedford  springs  had  by  that  time  become  a  notable  water- 
ing place  and  that  he  found  there  "  a  vast  concourse  of  people  col- 
lected from  different  places,  some  of  them  very  distant." 


62  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

pr.  acre.    Then  it  is  one's  own ;  few  taxes,  no  tythes, 
good  market,  society,  &  European  papers  daily. 

I  am  not  sure  that  English  elderly  people  would 
do  right  to  pass  the  mountains.  The  ocean  is  a  mere 
nothing;  and  if  all  I  hear  of  Philadelphia  and  N. 
York  be  true,  an  English  family  with  moderate 
property  may  fancy  themselves  in  England  im- 
proved on  a  hired  farm.  For  young  men,  everybody 
agrees,  that  the  Western  territory  will  be  the  best 
to  settle  in.  But,  alas,  it  is  another  world ;  not  only 
distant  but  distinct  from  Europe;  more  connected 
with  the  Spanish  Main,  with  the  East  Indies  even, 
than  with  England.  The  bright  side  of  the  prospect 
is,  that  the  further  West  (I  quote  Gen.  Wilkinson)1 
the  more  honest,  the  more  generous  the  people  are. 
The  hunter  of  the  Prairie,  of  St.  Louis,  or  the  woods 
of  Illinois  or  Tennessee,  will  divide  his  venison  with 
you ;  he  will  rather  strip  his  shirt  off  his  back  than 
take  a  cent  from  you.  These  men  retire  from  the 
never  ceasing  flow  of  population ;  with  this  comes  a 

'James  Wilkinson  was  a  Marylander  who,  after  a  rather  dubious 
career  in  the  Revolution,  went  to  Kentucky  to  engage  in  business 
and  repair  his  fortunes.  In  the  decade  of  controversy  between  the 
people  of  the  south-western  United  States  and  the  Spaniards  of 
Louisiana  regarding  the  right  of  the  former  to  the  navigation  of 
the  Mississippi  River,  Wilkinson  followed  the  demagogic  plan  of 
appearing  to  champion  the  interests  of  the  Americans  while  at  the 
same  time  acting  as  the  paid  agent  of  the  Spaniards  to  bring  about 
a  revolt  of  the  inhabitants  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  and  the  dis- 
memberment of  the  Union.  Despite  his  intrigues,  in  1796  he  suc- 
ceeded General  Anthony  Wayne  as  commander-in-chief  of  the 
United  States  army.  In  1805  he  was  appointed  governor  of  Louis- 
iana. While  holding  this  important  office  he  first  co-operated  with 
Aaron  Burr  in  his  ambitious  designs,  then  betrayed  him.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  War  of  1812  he  was  removed  from  his  western  post. 
After  an  inglorious  part  in  the  conduct  of  that  war  he  retired,  in 
1815,  to  an  extensive  estate  which  he  possessed  near  the  City  of 
Mexico,  and  there  he  died  in  1825. 


Baltimore  to  Pittsburg  63 

laborious,  enterprising,  set  of  men,  mingled  with 
sharpers,  desperadoes,  &c.  Then  rise  towns  and 
cities. 

Give  my  kindest  remembrances  to  all  friends  —  I 
cannot  mention  all  the  names  that  I  value.  Excuse 
the  incorrectness  of  this  letter,  for  time  is  seldom  at 
my  command  —  you  have  a  better  or  truer  descrip- 
tion of  what  I  see  and  feel  than  a  more  laboured  one 
would  give. 


Ill 

Vices  of  the  western  Pennsylvanians  —  Slavery,  and  society  in  the 
slave  states  —  The  climate  of  the  United  States. 


Pittsburg  June  17. 
THOUGH  I  have  so  long  delayed,  yet  I  have  not 
forgotten  to  write.  Several  times  I  have  begun  a 
letter,  which  I  wanted  time  to  finish.  I  have  put  it 
in  my  travelling  trunk,  seen  more,  and  found  that  I 
had  written  down  first  impressions,  which  upon 
deeper  insight  I  have  discovered  to  be  erronious. 

Of  this  singular  country  nothing  is  known  in 
England:  the  Inhabitants  of  its  cities  even  do  not 
know  it,  so  various  and  contrasted  are  the  materials 
of  which  its  population  is  composed,  so  strange  is 
the  structure  of  society,  so  imperfectly  is  it  cemented 
by  opinion. 

Of  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Northern  States,  or 
Yankees,  I  have  seen  nothing:  they  have  the  repu- 
tation of  being  very  keen,  shrewd,  enterprising  and 
industrious.  The  Merchants  of  the  Cities  are  like 
the  Merchants  of  England:  indeed,  most  of  them 
finish  their  commercial  education  in  England, 
France,  or  Holland. 

But  the  inhabitants  of  the  interior  of  Pennsyl- 
vania are  very  different.  Coarse  in  their  manners, 
inquisitive  to  a  tormenting  degree,  careless  of  giv- 
ing pain  or  offense,  and  obstinate  in  persisting  in 
their  rudeness  :  these  are  the  most  common  features 
in  their  characters.  They  are  chiefly  of  Dutch,  Ger- 


Pittsburg  65 

man,  or  Irish  extraction;  and  in  general  seem  to 
have  preserved  all  the  vices  of  their  forefathers,  and 
to  have  acquired  a  few  others.  Whisky  is  very  cheap. 
With  the  labour  of  an  hour  a  man  may  purchase  as 
much  as  will  make  him  ferocious,  if  not  drunk;  he 
fights  with  the  first  drunkard  he  meets,  and  they 
bite  each  other  like  dogs,  or  tear  out  each  other's 
eyes.  Perhaps  disgust  has  induced  me  to  shade 
the  picture  too  darkly.1  Disappointment  too  has 
deepened  my  dislike  of  the  Pennsylvanians.  Yet 
this  is  the  country  of  Penn  —  whose  capital  is  called 
the  City  of  Brotherly  Love.  Travelling  across  a 
mountainous  track,  which  will  never  be  thickly  in- 
habited, I  have  seen  the  worst  of  its  population. 
There  are,  however,  bright  exceptions  —  angels 
among  these  Demons.  I  was  taken  ill  at  the  house 

'The  testimony  of  travellers  generally  in  the  first  quarter  of  the 
nineteenth  century  tends  to  bear  out  Fordham  in  his  estimate  of  the 
western  Pennsylvanians.  Francois  Andre  Michaux  tells  in  his 
Travels  of  what  he  saw  at  Bedford  in  1802  as  follows:  "The  day  of 
our  arrival  was  a  day  of  rejoicing  for  the  country  people,  who  had 
assembled  together  in  this  little  town  to  celebrate  the  suppression 
of  the  tax  laid  upon  the  whiskey  distilleries ;  rather  an  arbitrary 
tax,  that  had  disaffected  the  inhabitants  of  the  interior  against  the 
late  president,  Mr.  Adams.  The  public  houses,  inns,  and  more  espe- 
cially the  one  where  we  lodged,  were  filled  with  the  lower  class 
of  people,  who  made  the  most  dreadful  riot,  and  committed  such 
horrible  excesses,  that  is  almost  impossible  to  form  the  least  idea 
of.  The  rooms,  stairs,  and  yard  were  strewed  with  drunken  men ; 
and  those  who  had  still  the  power  of  speech  uttered  nothing  but 
the  accents  of  rage  and  fury.  A  passion  for  spirituous  liquors  is 
one  of  the  features  that  characterise  the  country  people  belonging 
to  the  interior  of  the  United  States.  This  passion  is  so  strong,  that 
they  desert  their  homes  every  now  and  then  to  get  drunk  in  public 
houses ;  in  fact.  I  do  not  conceive  there  are  ten  out  of  a  hundred 
who  have  resolution  enough  to  desist  from  it  a  moment  provided 
they  had  it  by  them,  notwithstanding  their  usual  beverage  in  sum- 
mer is  nothing  but  water,  or  sour  milk"  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS, 
iii,  p.  144).  The  tax  to  which  Michaux  refers  was  the  excise  on 
whiskey  which  had  led  to  the  Whiskey  Rebellion  of  1794  and  which 
had  been  repealed  by  Congress,  much  to  the  delight  of  the  Pennsyl- 

5 


66  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

of  a  German  in  Bedford  County  —  a  tavern  fre- 
quented by  waggoners ;  if  I  had  been  a  son,  I  could 
not  have  been  better  treated.  The  landlady  pre- 
scribed for  me  and  nursed  me,  the  sons  came  to  chat 
to  me  at  my  bedside,  and  the  old  man  never  passed 
my  chamber  door  without  enquiring  how  I  was. 
Books  were  borrowed  for  me  in  the  Town,  and  I 
read  the  Romances  of  Mrs.  Radcliffe1  amidst  scenery 
scarcely  less  wild  than  the  Vallies  of  the  Appen- 
nines,  or  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic. 

In  Maryland,  a  slave  state,  the  people  are  more 
mild  and  civilized.  The  Virginians,  though  dissi- 
pated, are  gentlemen.  I  am  told  by  a  person  of  this 
town  that  I  shall  universally  find  a  good  society  and 
polished  manners  in  Slave  States,  and  the  reverse 
where  slavery  is  not  allowed.  If  this  be  the  case, 
how  superior  is  England  to  America,  as  a  place  of 
residence,  to  those  who  can  afford  to  stay  there ! 

vanians,  in  the  spring  of  1802.  Cuming,  writing  at  Bedford  in  Jan- 
uary, 1807,  says  of  the  people  of  that  vicinity :  "  So  far  do  they 
carry  this  mania  for  whiskey  that  to  procure  it,  they  in  the  most 
niggardly  manner  deny  themselves  even  the  necessaries  of  life; 
and,  as  I  was  informed  by  my  landlord  Fleming,  an  observing  and 
rational  man,  countrymen  while  attending  the  courts  (for  they  are 
generally  involved  in  litigation,  of  which  they  are  very  fond)  occupy 
the  bar  rooms  of  the  taverns  in  the  country  towns,  for  several  days 
together,  making  one  meal  serve  them  each  day.  and  sometimes  two, 
and  even  three  days  —  but  drinking  whiskey  without  bounds  during 
the  same  time"  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  pp.  62-63).  Melish 
(Travels,  ii,  p.  51),  in  1811,  sought  to  explain,  if  not  to  disprove,  the 
excessive  use  of  spirituous  liquors  in  the  back  country  by  showing 
that  on  the  frontiers  cider  and  malt  liquors  could  not  easily  be  had. 
*Anne  Radcliffe  (1764-1823)  was  one  of  the  most  popular  Eng- 
lish writers  of  fiction  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Among  her  numerous  romances  may  be  mentioned  The  Castles  of 
Athlin  and  Dunbayne:  a  Highland  Story;  The  Italian:  or  The  Con- 
fessional of  the  Black  Penitents;  The  Mysteries  of  Udolpho;  The 
Romance  of  the  Forest;  and  A  Sicilian  Romance.  These  stories,  by 
their  appeal  to  the  love  of  the  wonderful  and  the  supernatural, 
marked  a  new  departure  in  English  novel-writing. 


Pitts  burg  67 

The  Southern  States,  at  least  Georgia  and  the 
Carolinas,  must  be  cultivated  by  blacks  or  aban- 
doned. The  heat  there  is  so  excessive  in  August 
that  to  walk  a  mile  in  the  Sun  would  subject  a 
European  to  the  most  imminent  danger.  The  landed 
Proprietors  of  those  States  are  hospitable  and  gen- 
erous, but  not  so  refined  as  the  Virginians.  They 
make  great  profits  from  their  plantations;  but  they 
are  usually  in  debt,  &  are  dissipated  and  indolent. 

The  climate  of  the  United  States,  from  the  Lati- 
tude of  39° North,  is  very  severe.  Sleighs  are  seen 
at  every  house.  The  Monongahela,  which  is  rolling 
its  turbid  waves  beneath  my  window,  is  frozen 
across  every  winter,  and  loaded  waggons  pass  to  the 
opposite  bank;  yet  now  the  Thermometer  I  think 
would  be  as  high  as  90  in  the  shade.  I  could  not 
venture  out  in  the  Sun  without  suffering  for  my  im- 
prudence, now  I  am  in  ill  health.  When  I  recover  I 
shall  be  more  hardy.  When  I  crossed  the  Alle- 
ganies  the  leaves  on  the  Trees  were  frost  bitten  on 
each  side,  and  the  weather  here  is  as  hot  as  it  is 
ever  known  to  be  in  England.  .  .  . 

The  baggage  amounts  to  9,000  Ibs.  weight,  con- 
tained in  about  70  packages.  I  have  sent  off  half 
of  it  under  the  care  of  Mr.  A.,  in  a  keel  boat.  The 
remainder  is  not  come  in,  and  if  it  does  not  arrive 
tonight,  I  shall  tomorrow  take  a  horse  and  go  in 
search  of  it.  Mr.  B.'s  Phaeton  was  left  in  Virginia. 
The  party  travelled  by  the  Stage  as  far  as  it  was 
safe  from  M'cConnal's  town1  within  14  miles  of  this 

'McConnellstown  (the  present  McConnellsburg,  in  Fulton  County, 


68  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

place.  They  walked  120  miles  across  the  Moun- 
tains, along  roads  of  which  you  can  have  no 
idea.  .  .  . 

If  the  Ladies  should  be  left  at  Cincinnati,  I  believe 
they  will  proceed  with  me  by  water  to  St.  Louis, 
Missouri  Territory.1  Kentucky  or  the  Missouri 
Territory,  I  am  inclined  to  think,  will  be  our  choice. 
I  have  sent  a  line  of  route  which  I  obtained  from 

Gen. which  strongly  recommends  the  Prairies 

of  St.  Louis. 


Pennsylvania),  was  the  point  at  which  the  lines  of  travel  from  Bal- 
timore and  Washington  toward  Pittsburg  merged  with  the  Penn- 
sylvania State  Road.  It  is  approximately  one  hundred  miles  from 
Baltimore  and  130  miles  from  Pittsburg.  Its  site  was  first  occupied 
by  Fort  Lyttleton,  one  of  the  chain  of  frontier  posts  built  in  1756 
for  the  protection  of  the  western  Pennsylvania  border.  Under  date 
of  June  17,  1803,  Thaddeus  M.  Harris,  a  Massachusetts  traveller, 
writes  of  the  town:  in  his  Journal,  as  follows :  "  Passing  the  Side- 
ling Hills,  we  reach  McConnel's  town,  a  delightful,  well-watered  vil- 
lage in  Bedford  County,  Pennsylvania,  to  dine.  It  is  situated  in 
the  valley,  or,  as  it  is  called  "  the  Cove,"  between  Sideling  and 
North  Mountains.  It  has  been  built  eight  years ;  contains  about 
eighty  houses,  several  of  them  handsomely  built  with  brick  or  stone, 
a  number  of  stores  and  shops,  and  a  small  Dutch  meeting-house " 
(EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iii,  p.  367).  Melish  (Travels,  ii,  pp.  34- 
35),  in  1811,  wrote  that  the  place  had  eighty  or  ninety  nouses  and 
about  five  hundred  inhabitants.  Fearon  (Sketches,  pp.  187-191)  gives 
some  interesting  information  about  the  place  as  he  found  it  in  Octo- 
ber, 1817. 

1  St.  Louis  was  founded  in  1764  by  Pierre  Laclede  Liguest  and 
a  company  of  followers,  representing  a  French  fur  company.  The 
town  early  gained  a  considerable  population  by  reason  of  "the  fact 
that  France  had  but  recently  yielded  the  territory  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi to  England  and  at  least  a  third  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
ceded  region  at  once  withdrew  to  the  new  post  on  the  western  bank 
of  the  river.  The  town  was  incorporated  in  1809  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  the  census  showed  that  it  had  a  population  of  1,000. 
By  1818  it  had  3,500  inhabitants,  and  by  1821,  5,600.  On  the  history 
of  St.  Louis  see  Elihu  H.  Shepard,  The  Early  History  of  St.  Louis 
and  Missouri  (St.  Louis,  1870)  ;  Frederic  L.  Billon,  Annals  of  St. 
Louis  in  its  Early  Days  under  the  French  and  Spanish  Domina- 
tions (St.  Louis,  1886)  ;  and  Thomas  Scharf,  History  of  Saint  Louis 
City  and  County  (Philadelphia,  1883).  Lewis  C.  Beck,  Gazetteer  of 
the  States  of  Illinois  and  Missouri  (Albany,  1823),  pp.  324-331,  has 
a  good  description  of  the  city  about  1822,  with  map. 


Pitts  burg  69 

Having  said  so  much  against  the  commonalty  of 
this  Republic,  I  ought  to  say,  that  from  the  gentle- 
men, and  there  are  gentlemen  here,  I  have  met  with 
kindness,  politeness  and  hospitality.  M  *  *  N  *  *, 
DeG*  *  of  N  *  *  and  some  others,  remind  me  of 
those  I  most  love  and  esteem  in  England. 

Excuse  this  bad  writing;  having  just  been  bled, 
I  cannot  mend  my  pen,  and  the  heat  makes  my  head 
ache.  I  shall  not  close  the  letter,  'till  I  leave  this 
place. 

June  ipth :  Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  been 
in  agreeable  parties  —  a  higher  set.  I  have  met  with 
women,  whose  Manners  are  quite  English,  and 
whose  personal  appearance  and  attractions  would 
be  admired  anywhere. 

I  am  informed  that  Mr.  B.  has  reached  Cincin- 
nati, and  that  he  intends  leaving  the  ladies  there. 
I  am  going  to  embark  on  a  flat  boat ;  my  provisions 
are  already  on  board.  Cincinnati  is  500  miles  hence, 
and  I  shall  be  10  days  on  the  voyage. 


IV 

Methods  of  earlier  writers  on  the  West  —  Pittsburg  —  Industries 
of  the  vicinity  —  Flat-boats  and  keels  on  the  Ohio  —  The  start 
down  the  river  —  Neville's  Island  —  Logstown  —  Beavertown 
—  Wheeling  —  Fish  Creek  —  A  thunder-storm  —  Marietta  — 
The  Muskingham  [Muskingum]  —  Blennerhassett's  Island  — 
Galliopagus  [Gallipplis]  —  Portsmouth  —  Manchester  — Mays- 
ville  —  Augusta  —  Arrival  at  Cincinnati. 

On  the  Ohio  River  June  22. 

.  .  .  If  it  be  observed  that  my  letters  con- 
tain no  information  concerning  the  state  of  the 
country,  you  may  say  in  my  defence,  that  I  have  but 
little  opportunity  to  make  correct  observations;  I 
have  something  else  to  do.  It  is  very  easy  to  write 
letters  and  books,  too,  as  Hellish,  Wild1  and  others 
have  done.  They  go  to  a  Tavern-keeper,  pump  from 


1  No  trace  is  obtainable  of  any  work  on  Western  history  or  topog- 
raphy by  a  writer  of  this  name.  In  a  letter  to  the  Editor  Dr.  R.  G. 
Thwaites  has  suggested  that  Fordham  intends  here  to  mention  Isaac 
Weld,  Jr.,  whose  Travels  through  the  States  of  North  America  and 
the  Provinces  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  in  1795-97  (London, 
1799)  was  well  known  in  both  England  and  America.  This  seems 
the  most  plausible  explanation  of  the  doubtful  reference. 

John  Melish,  Travels  in  the  United  States  of  America  in  the  Years 
1806  &  1807,  and  1809,  1810  &  1811  (Philadelphia,  1812).  Melish  was 
a  Scotchman  who  visited  the  United  States  for  the  first  time  in 
1806,  in  the  pursuit  of  commercial  interests.  During  the  next  six 
years  most  of  his  time  was  spent  in  this  country.  He  tells  us  that 
prior  to  his  first  visit  he  read  all  the  "Travels  in  America"  that 
he  could  lay  hold  of,  but  found  them  uniformly  unsatisfactory  —  in 
some  cases  because  of  the  ignorance  and  superficiality  of  the  authors, 
in  others  because  the  facts  had  been  twisted  or  obscured  with  a 
view  to  promoting  or  discouraging  emigration.  Hence  he  resolved 
to  utilize  his  opportunities  for  observation  in  the  preparation  of 
a  full  and  unprejudiced  description  of  the  country  and  the  various 
elements  of  its  population.  His  earlier  travels  took  him  through 
New  England,  the  Middle  States,  and  much  of  the  South;  and  in 
1810-11,  as  the  relations  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States 
became  more  strained  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  would 
be  no  profit  in  international  trade  for  some  time  to  come  and  that 
the  lull  could  be  best  occupied  by  him  with  a  tour  through  the  West. 


Pittsburg  to  Cincinnati  71 

him  all  he  chooses  to  tell  them,  and  set  it  down :  nine 
times  in  ten  the  information  is  very  incorrect,  some- 
times purposely  distorted.  No  dependence  can  be 
placed  on  any  representation  but  that  of  an  intelli- 
gent, honest  man,  long  resident  in  the  country,  and 
who  is  personally  well  disposed  toward  you. 

When  I  arrived  at  Pittsburg  I  went  to  Mr.  B.  of 
that  place  with  letters  of  introduction.  As  I  was 
very  ill,  I  consulted  Mrs.  B.  about  having  Medi- 
cal advice.  She  recommended  me  to  Dr.  M.  and  to 
him  I  went;  —  he  was  a  sensible  clever  man  &  set 
me  up  for  6$.  I  expected  to  have  paid  20$. 

Pittsburg1    contains    about    10,000   inhabitants, 

Having  carefully  planned  the  places  he  desired  to  visit  and  the  in- 
quiries he  desired  to  make  as  he  went  along,  he  set  out  from  Balti- 
more June  3,  1811.  It  was  late  autumn  before  he  returned  to  the 
East,  and  with  him  he  carried  a  vast  amount  of  information  regard- 
ing Kentucky,  Ohio,  and  other  parts  of  the  western  country,  which 
he  proceeded  to  put  in  shape  for  publication.  The  result  was  the 
two  volumes  published  the  next  year,  embodying  his  observations 
on  all  sections  of  the  United  States  —  East,  South,  and  West  — 
which  he  had  been  able  to  visit.  The  value  of  Melish's  writings  is 
considerably  greater  than  Fordham's  remarks  would  lead  one  to 
suppose. 

1  In  1754,  by  command  of  Marquis  Duquesne,  governor  of  Canada, 
Fort  Duquesne  was  built  in  the  angle  of  the  Monongahela  and  Alle- 
gheny rivers  by  a  party  of  French  under  the  leadership  of  M.  de  la 
Jonquier.  The  site  selected  for  the  fortification  was  exactly  that 
of  the  later  city  of  Pittsburg.  For  four  years  the  French  contrived 
to  hold  the  place  against  the  hostile  English,  but  in  November,  1758, 
when  General  Forbes  undertook  a  well-planned  campaign  against  it 
longer  tenure  seemed  impossible  and  the  fort  was  evacuated  and 
burned  by  the  commandant  De  Lignery.  An  English  fort  built 
forthwith  somewhat  further  up  the  Monongahela  received  the  name 
Fort  Pitt,  in  honor  of  the  Earl  of  Chatham;  and  by  common  con- 
sent the  town  which  in  time  began  to  grow  up  around  the  strong- 
hold was  known  as  Pittsburg.  The  location  of  this  town  at  the 
junction  of  the  two  leading  rivers  of  western  Pennsylvania  and  the 
beginning  of  the  Ohio  made  it  easily  the  most  important  gateway 
to  the  West.  Some  travellers,  traders,  and  emigrants  went  west- 
ward by  a  route  further  to  the  north  along  the  line  of  the  lower 
Great  Lakes,  and  others  went  by  a  southern  route  through  the  Cum- 


72  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

mostly  engaged  in  manufactures.  The  land  around 
is  fertile,  though  too  hilly.  It  is  pretty  well  cleared 
near  the  town,  but  10  miles  off  the  country  is  an  im- 
mense forest,  broken  into  and  gapped  by  settlers. 
The  farmers  live  well  and  work  rather  hard.  Their 
servants  are  paid  75  cents  per  day  and  are  boarded 
—  in  the  morning  with  meat  and  coffee,  hot  meat 
and  whisky  at  dinner  and  coffee,  cold  meat,  and  veg- 
etables for  Supper.  Farming  is  not  reckoned  very 

berland  Gap ;  but  travel  from  the  entire  eastern  coast  tended  strongly 
to  converge  upon  Pittsburg,  where  the  Ohio  became  the  great  ave- 
nue for  four  or  five  hundred  miles,  in  its  lower  course  inviting  set- 
tlers to  spread  out  again  toward  both  north  and  south.  Practically 
all  of  the  European  elements  that  came  into  the  West  advanced 
thither  from  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore  by  way  of  Pitts- 
burg.  The  result  was  that  nearly  every  emigrant  or  traveller  who 
wrote  letters  to  friends  at  home,  or  published  more  pretentious  ac- 
counts of  the  new  country,  had  a  good  deal  to  say  about  Pittsburg. 
It  may  be  of  interest  to  cite  a  few  of  the  most  important  of  these 
early  descriptions  of  the  place,  including  some  by  American  writers. 
Francois  Andre  Michaux  (Travels),  in  1802,  says  that  the  town  had 
400  houses  and  was  growing  rapidly.  He  points  out  how  the  place 
was  losing  its  importance  as  a  military  post  and  acquiring  signifi- 
cance of  a  new  sort  as  a  medium  of  commerce  between  the  East 
and  the  West  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iii,  pp.  156-163).  Cum- 
ing,  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit  in  February,  1807,  got  a  less  favor- 
able impression  —  of  the  town  itself,  if  not  of  its  people.  He  found 
but  a  single  paved  street  and  was  struck  with  the  blackened  appear- 
ance of  all  out-door  objects,  due  to  the  already  considerable  use 
of  coal.  According  to  him  {Sketches),  in  March,  1808,  there  were 
17  streets,  236  brick  houses,  361  wooden  ones,  50  stores,  24  taverns, 
and  several  factories.  He  gives  a  very  detailed  classification  of  the 
population  industrially,  and  a  careful  statement  of  the  prices  of  all 
important  commodities,  concluding  that  "  either  as  a  trading  or  a 
manufacturing  town,  Pittsburg  for  situation,  is  not  excelled  in  the 
United  States,  and  it  bids  fair  to  become  the  emporium  of  the  cen- 
tre of  the  federal  union"  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  pp.  76-87, 
242-255).  Melish  (Travels,  ii,  pp.  54-63),  in  1811,  says  that  the  popu- 
lation of  the  town  the  previous  year  was  4,768  and  prophesies  that 
"  it  will  become  one  of  the  largest  towns  in  America  and  one  of 
the  greatest  manufacturing  cities  in  the  world" — its  manufactures 
being  already  valued  at  more  than  $1,000,000  annually.  Thomas 
Hulme  (Journal)  says  of  the  city  in  1818:  "This  place  surpasses 
even  my  expectations,  both  in  natural  resources  and  in  extent  of 
manufactures.  Here  are  the  materials  for  every  species  of  manu- 
facture, nearly,  and  of  excellent  quality  and  in  profusion;  and  these 


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Pitts  burg  to  Cincinnati  75 

profitable,  but  there  are  many  able,  that  is  rich, 
farmers.  A  Saw  Mill  is  very  profitable.  One  on 
a  constant  stream,  costing  6  or  700$  will  earn  its 
value  in  one  year ;  and  sometimes  a  great  deal  more. 
When  worked  by  steam  and  connected  with  a  Grist 
Mill,  it  is  an  excellent  business.  It  then  requires  a 
capital  of  13  or  i4Oo£  sterling.  Tradesmen  at  Pitts- 
burg  live  well  and  save  money ;  but  they  complain  of 
hard  times,  because  Peace  has  thrown  the  Ocean 
trade  into  New  Orleans,  which  they  in  War  monopo- 
lized.1 

Mr.  Bakewell's  glass  works  are  admirable :  he  has 

means  have  been  taken  advantage  of  by  skilful  and  industrious  arti- 
sans and  mechanics  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  There  is  scarcely 
a  denomination  of  manufacture  or  manual  profession  that  is  not 
carried  on  to  a  great  extent,  and,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ex- 
amine, in  the  best  manner.  The  manufacture  of  iron  in  all  the 
different  branches,  and  the  mills  of  all  sorts,  which  I  examined  with 
the  most  attention,  are  admirable"  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x, 
PP-  35-37)-  Other  descriptions  by  writers  of  the  period  are:  Mor- 
ris Birkbeck,  Notes,  pp.  40-48;  Fearon,  Sketches,  pp.  199-216;  Est- 
wick  Evans,  Pedestrious  Tour  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  viii,  pp. 
247-2S5)  ;  James  Flint,  Letters  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  ix,  pp. 
82-89)  !  John  Woods,  Two  Years'  Residence  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  x,  pp.  217-218);  Wm.  Tell  Harris,  Remarks,  pp.  89-90; 
Thomas  Nuttall,  Journal  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xiii,  pp.  44-45)  ; 
and  George  W.  Ogden,  Letters  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xix,  pp. 
26-28).  An  older  popular  history  of  Pittsburg  is  Neville  B.  Craig's 
History  of  Pittsburg  (Pittsburg,  1851)  ;  a  recent  book  on  the  subject 
is  T.  J.  Chapman,  Old  Pittsburg  Days  (Pittsburg,  1900). 

'Fearon  in  1817,  Estwick  Evans  in  1818,  and  Adlard  Welby  in 
1819  agree  that  the  trade  of  Pittsburg  was,  if  not  actually  declining, 
at  least  not  making  appreciable  growth.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  while 
the  "  hard  times  "  of  which  Fordham  speaks  did  not  continue  and 
the  commerce  of  Pittsburg  expanded  remarkably  during  the  next 
ten  years,  it  was  nevertheless  true  that  the  city  had  reached  the 
critical  point  in  its  history  where  the  carrying  trade  must  give  place 
to  manufacturing  as  the  staple  industry  and  source  of  wealth ;  in- 
deed the  transition  was  already  far  progressed.  The  commercial  re- 
lations of  Pittsburg  and  New  Orleans  before  and  during  the  war 
are  well  described  by  Francois  Andre  Michaux  as  follows :  "  The 
major  part  of  the  merchants  settled  at  Pittsburgh,  or  in  the  environs, 
are  the  partners,  or  else  the  factors,  belonging  to  the  houses  at 


Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 


excellent  artists,  both  French  and  English.  His  Cut 
Glass  equals  the  best  I  have  seen  in  England.1 

Brewing  succeeds  well  here,  especially  the  Porter 
Brewery.  New  Orleans  is  the  principal  market  for 
it.  The  Pottery  business  must  be  very  profitable; 
a  plate,  worth  a  id.  in  England,  sells  here  for  6d. 
Distilling  on  a  small  scale  answers  well :  many  farm- 
ers are  distillers. 

I  met  some  Baltimore  acquaintances  here, 
Mess".  E Senr.  &  Junr.  The  old  man  took  me 

Philadelphia.  Their  brokers  at  New  Orleans  sell,  as  much  as  they 
can,  for  ready  money;  or  rather,  take  in  exchange  cottons,  indigo, 
raw  sugar,  the  produce  of  Low  Louisiana,  which  they  send  off  by 
sea  to  the  houses  at  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  and  thus  cover  their 
first  advances.  The  barge-men  return  thus  by  sea  to  Philadelphia 
or  Baltimore,  whence  they  go  by  land  to  Pittsburgh  and  the  environs, 
where  the  major  part  of  them  generally  reside.  Although  the 
passage  from  New  Orleans  to  one  of  these  two  ports  is  twenty 
or  thirty  days,  and  that  they  have  to  take  a  route  by  land  of 
three  hundred  miles  to  return  to  Pittsburgh,  they  prefer  this  way, 
being  not  so  difficult  as  the  return  by  land  from  New  Orleans  to 
Pittsburgh,  this  last  distance  being  fourteen  or  fifteen  hundred 
miles.  .  .  .  The  navigation  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  is  so 
much  improved  of  late  that  they  can  tell  almost  to  a  certainty  the  dis- 
tance from  Pittsburgh  to  New  Orleans,  which  they  compute  to 
be  two  thousand  one  hundred  miles.  The  barges  in  the  spring 
season  usually  take  forty  or  fifty  days  to  make  the  passage,  which 
two  or  three  persons  in  a  pirogue  make  in  five  and  twenty  days." 
Travels  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iii,  p.  159). 

xThe  first  glass  factory  west  of  the  Alleghanies  was  built  at 
Pittsburg  by  General  James  O'Hara  in  1797.  That  of  Bakewell, 
Pears  and  Company  was  established  in  1808.  Thomas  Nuttall, 
who  visited  Pittsburg  in  1818  on  his  way  to  the  Arkansas  Ter- 
ritory, writes :  "  The  day  after  my  arrival  I  went  through  the 
flint-glass  works  of  Mr.  Bakewell,  and  was  surprised  to  see  the 
beauty  of  this  manufacture,  in  the  interior  of  the  United  States, 
in  which  the  expensive  decorations  of  cutting  and  engraving 
(amidst  every  discouragement  incident  to  a  want  of  taste  and 
wealth)  were  carried  to  such  perfection.  The  productions  of 
this  manufacture  find  their  way  to  New  Orleans,  and  even  to 
some  of  the  islands  of  the  West  Indies.  The  president,  Monroe, 
as  a  liberal  encourager  of  domestic  manufactures,  had  on  his 
visit  to  those  works  given  orders  for  a  service  of  glass,  which 
might  indeed  be  exhibited  as  a  superb  specimen  of  this  elegant 
art."  Journal  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xiii,  p.  45). 


-         '  . 


OHIO   RIVER   FLATBOAT   (A),    AND   KEELBOAT 


Pittsburg  to  Cincinnati  79 

to  see  his  son's  manufactory  of  Steam  Engines  and 
his  Foundery.  Seventy  men  were  employed  in  the 
different  works. 

I  sent  off  the  first  load  of  baggage  under  the 
care  of  Mr.  A.,  and  when  the  remainder  arrived  I 
hired  freight  on  board  a  flat  boat  for  50  cents  per 
cwt.  These  flat  boats  or  Orleans  boats  as  they  are 
called  in  the  Western  Waters  are  from  12  to  25  feet 
wide,  and  from  30  to  90  feet  long.  They  are  sold 
when  they  arrive  at  their  place  of  destination,  and 
broken  up.  Not  a  100  nails  are  used  in  building 
one,  but  they  are  stuck  together  with  wooden  pins. 
They  will  carry  700  barrels  of  flour.  They  cost  i$ 
pr.  foot  in  length  and  sell  for  ^4$.  They  are  manned 
by  four  men  each,  and  a  pratoon.  In  the  Missis- 
sippi double  that  number  is  necessary  for  the  stream 
runs  eight  miles  an  hour:  and  is  full  of  Eddies. 
Goods  are  brought  up  the  river  on  keels  or  keel- 
boats,  which  require  12  or  24  men  to  row  and  pole 
them  against  the  current.  It  was  in  such  a  boat 
that  Lewis  and  Clarke  ascended  the  Missouri;  it 
was  built  at  Pittsburg.1 

1  The  information  here  given  regarding  the  various  sorts  of  craft 
navigating  the  Ohio  about  1817  may  be  supplemented  by  the  fol- 
lowing passage  from  Estwick  Evans's  Pedestrious  Tour,  published 
in  1819 :  "  The  boats  which  float  upon  the  Ohio  are  various, — 
from  the  ship  of  several  hundred  tons  burthen,  to  the  mere  skiff. 
Very  few  if  any  very  large  vessels,  however,  are  now  built  at 
Pittsburgh,  or  indeed  at  any  other  place  on  the  Ohio.  They  were 
formerly  built  on  this  river,  particularly  at  Pittsburgh  and  Ma- 
rietta; but  the  difficulties  incident  to  getting  them  to  the  ocean, 
have  rendered  such  undertakings  unfrequent.  An  almost  innum- 
erable number  of  steam-boats,  barks,  keels,  and  arks,  are  yearly 
set  afloat  upon  this  river,  and  upon  its  tributary  streams.  The 
barks  are  generally  about  one  hundred  tons  burthen,  have  two 
masts,  and  are  rigged  as  schooners,  and  hermaphrodite  brigs.  The 
keels  have,  frequently,  covered  decks,  and  sometimes  carry  one 


80  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

On  Thursday,  at  noon,  I  went  on  board  my  Ken- 
tucky boat :  there  was  another  lashed  to  it.  Having 
bid  my  friends  farewell,  we  pushed  off  into  the 
middle  of  the  stream,  which  here  runs  at  3  miles  an 
hour.1  The  bank  of  the  river  on  our  left  was  high, 
abrupt,  and  covered  with  trees.  On  our  right  it 
was  hilly,  but  not  precipitous.  Col.  Killbuck's  island 

mast.  These  and  also  the  barks  are  sometimes  rowed  and  some- 
times moved  up  the  river  by  poling,  and  by  drawing  them  along 
shore  with  ropes.  The  flat-boat  or  ark  is  of  a  clumsy  construc- 
tion; but  very  burthensome.  Its  foundation  consists  of  sills  like 
those  of  a  house,  and  to  these  is  trunneled  a  floor  of  plank.  The 
sides  are  of  boards  loosely  put  together,  and  the  top  is  covered 
in  the  same  way.  The  bottom  of  the  boat,  and  so  much  of  the 
sides  as  come  in  contact  with  the  water,  are  caulked.  Some  of 
this  kind  of  boats  will  carry  four  or  five  hundred  barrels  of 
flour,  besides  considerable  quantities  of  bacon,  cheese,  and  other 
produce.  On  the  deck  of  the  ark  are  two  large  oars,  moving 
on  pivots,  and  at  the  stern  there  is  a  large  steering  oar.  The 
progress  of  the  ark  is  principally  in  floating  with  the  current ; 
and  the  oars  are  seldom  used  excepting  for  the  purpose  of  rowing 
ashore.  The  business  carried  on  by  boats,  on  the  Ohio  and  the 
Mississippi,  is  immense.  The  freight  of  goods  up  and  down  these 
rivers  is  high;  and  the  freighting  business  here  is  exceedingly 
profitable.  No  property  pays  so  great  an  interest  as  that  of  steam- 
boats on  these  rivers.  A  trip  of  a  few  weeks  yields  one  hundred 
per  cent  upon  the  capital  employed.  The  arks,  and,  generally 
speaking,  the  keels,  when  they  reach  New  Orleans,  seldom  return 
up  the  river  again.  The  former  are  sold  for  lumber."  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  viii,  pp.  256-257.)  Another  description  of  an 
Ohio  River  "  ark "  may  be  found  in  Thaddeus  M.  Harris's  Jour- 
nal (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iii,  p.  335).  For  the  steamboat  traf- 
fic on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  see,  p.  106,  note.  There  is  an  interest- 
ing chapter  on  the  evolution  of  river  craft  in  Archer  B.  Hulbert 
Waterways  of  Westward  Expansion  (HISTORIC  HIGHWAYS  OF 
AMERICA,  ix,  pp.  100-150). 

1  Among  other  interesting  narratives  of  the  descent  of  the  Ohio 
by  travellers  and  emigrants  of  this  period  may  be  mentioned : 
Francois  Andre  Michaux,  Travels  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iii, 
p.  168,  ff.)  ;  Fortescue  Cuming,  Sketches  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS, 
iv,  p.  87,  ff.)  ;  John  Melish,  Travels  (ii,  p.  84,  ff.)  ;  James  Flint,  Let- 
ters from  America  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  ix,  p.  89,  ff.)  ;  TJiomas 
Nuttall,  Journal  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xiii,  p.  47,  ff.)  ;  Thomas 
Hulme,  Journal  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  p.  38,  ff.)  ;  William 
Faux,  Memorable  Days  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xi,  p.  167,  ff.)  ; 
William  Tell  Harris,  Remarks,  pp.  90-99;  and  John  Woods,  Two 
Years'  Residence  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  pp.  222-256.) 


Pittsburg  to  Cincinnati  81 

is  well  farmed  by  his  tenants.    This  is  not  often  the 
case:  very  little  land  is  rented  here. 

Chartier's  creek,1  a  pretty  shaded  stream,  was  the 
first  break  in  the  coal-hill  on  the  left.  A  romantic 
wooden  bridge  spanned  the  river  cliff.  Gen1.  Ne- 
ville possesses  an  island  at  its  mouth,  which 
stretches  six  miles  down  the  Ohio  and  is  a  hand- 
some farm.2  After  passing  four  or  five  islands  off 
Indian's  Logstown3  18  miles  from  Pittsburg,  a  gen- 
tleman from  Salem  and  his  lady  with  three  chil- 
dren, had  put  off  an  hour  before  us  in  a  family 
flat  boat.  As  I  had  a  boarding  house  acquaintance 
with  him,  I  rowed  myself  forward  in  our  skiff,  and 
took  coffee  with  him.  As  his  boat  was  light,  and 
he  had  two  men  who  pretended  to  know  the  river, 
he  said  he  should  go  on  all  night.  The  dangers  of 
the  river  are  Planters,  Sawyers  and  Wooden  Isl- 

1  Chartier's  Creek  flows  into  the  Ohio  three  miles  below  Pitts- 
burg. It  received  its  name  from  a  French-Shawnee  half-breed 
who  was  a  man  of  influence  in  his  tribe  about  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  An  Indian  village,  known  as  Chartier's  Town, 
was  situated  at  the  mouth  of  the  creek. 

2General  Neville's  island  was  known  commonly  to  Ohio  navi- 
gators as  Long  Island.  It  lay  immediately  below  Cow  Island. 
Fortescue  Cuming  noted  in  1807  that  its  soil  was  of  the  best  qual- 
ity and  that  it  might  be  divided  into  several  good  farms.  At 
that  time  Major  Isaac  Craig  of  Pittsburg  had  part  of  it  under 
cultivation.  After  the  close  of  the  War  of  1812  Major  Craig 
retired  to  the  island,  where  he  resided  until  his  death  in  1826. 

8Logstown  was  situated  on  a  high  bluff  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
Ohio,  just  below  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  Economy,  Penn- 
sylvania. During  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  it  was  the 
most  important  Indian  trading  village  on  the  Pennsylvania  fron- 
tier. Its  population  was  a  mixture  of  Iroquois,  Mohican,  and 
Shawnee.  Soon  after  the  establishment  of  Fort  Duquesne  in  1754, 
on  the  site  of  the  later  Pittsburg,  the  French  built  houses  for  the 
village's  inhabitants,  but  after  the  early  substitution  of  English 
for  French  supremacy  in  the  region  the  place  rapidly  declined. 
Cuming,  in  1807,  speaks  of  it  as  "a  scattering  hamlet  of  four  or 
five  log  cabins"  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  p.  97). 


82  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

ands.1  A  Planter  is  a  tree  rooted  fast  to  the  bottom 
of  the  river,  &  rotted  off  level  with  the  water,  a 
heavy  boat  striking  one  of  them  may  be  staved  and 
sunk.  Sawyers  are  trees  less  firmly  rooted;  they 
rise  and  fall  with  the  water;  if  they  point  up  the 
stream,  they  are  dangerous,  but  not  so  much  so 
when  they  point  down.  Wooden  Islands  are  logs 
accumulated  against  planters  or  shoals. 

On  Friday  the  2oth  we  advanced  60  miles,  passed 
Big  beaver  Creek,  70  yards  wide  at  the  mouth. 
Four  miles  up  it  has  falls  or  rapids,  which  extend 
three  miles.  On  them  are  forging,  fulling,  and  grist 
mills;  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  Quakers.  The  river 
here  is  very  crooked,  bounded  by  high,  precipitous, 
banks,  which  are  covered  with  gigantic  trees.  In 
some  places  bare  rocks  project  into  the  Stream, 
forming  eddies  and  ripples.  Beavertown,2  a  mis- 


1 "  Planters  are  large  bodies  of  trees  firmly  fixed  by  their  roots 
in  the  bottom  of  the  river,  in  a  perpendicular  manner,  and  ap- 
pearing no  more  than  about  a  foot  above  the  surface  of  the  water 
in  its  middling  state.  So  firmly  are  they  rooted,  that  the  largest 
boat  running  against  them,  will  not  move  them,  but  they  fre- 
quently injure  the  boat. 

"  Sawyers  are  likewise  bodies  of  trees  fixed  less  perpendicularly 
in  the  river,  and  rather  of  a  less  size,  yielding  to  the  pressure  of 
the  current,  disappearing  and  appearing  by  turns  above  the  wa- 
ter, similar  to  the  motion  of  a  saw-mill  saw,  from  which  they 
have  taken  their  name. 

"Wooden-Islands  are  places  where  by  some  cause  or  other  large 
quantities  of  driftwood  have,  through  time,  been  arrested  and  mat- 
ted together  in  different  parts  of  the  river."  Zadoc  Cramer,  The 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  Navigator  (Pittsburg,  1804),  p.  II.  This 
little  book,  which  passed  through  twelve  editions,  was  the  stand- 
ard guide  of  navigators  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
There  is  a  description  and  synopsis  of  it  in  Archer  B.  Hulbert, 
Waterways  of  Westward  Expansion  (HISTORIC  HIGHWAYS  OF 
AMERICA,  ix,  pp.  73-99). 

2  Big  Beaver  Creek,  a  stream  about  fifty  yards  wide  at  its  mouth, 
flows  into  the  Ohio  ten  miles  below  Logstown.  The  Indian  vil- 


Pittsburg  to  Cincinnati  83 

erable  place,  was  almost  the  only  break  we  saw 
this  day.  It  stands  200  feet  above  the  river.  The 
rounded  pebbles  evince  that  the  Ohio  has  been  200 
feet  higher  here,  than  it  is  now.  We  passed  two 
or  three  log  houses  and  taverns,  with  an  acre  or 
two  of  cleared  land  attached  to  each,  but  the  gen- 
eral character  of  the  river  scenery  is  gloomy  and 
grand.  My  amusement  was  to  row  the  skiff 
through  the  eddies,  to  land  and  scramble  up  the 
rocks  and  search  for  curious  plants  or  squirrels. 
This  skiff  is  so  light  that  I  can  with  ease  catch  the 
boats  when  they  are  3  miles  ahead.  I  find  that  I 
have  not  forgotten  the  art  of  swimming,  so  that  I 
am  under  no  apprehension  when  the  skiff  strikes  a 
log  as  it  sometimes  does. 

I  should  have  told  you  that  I  had  a  letter  to  Major 

N ,  son  of  Gen.  N .     This  gentleman  has 

shewn  me  much  civility.  His  father  was  the  rich- 
est man  in  Pensylvania,  and  has  signalized  himself 

lage  which  was  situated  at  its  junction  with  the  larger  stream  in 
the  earlier  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  where  the  town  of 
Beaver  now  stands,  was  variously  known  as  King  Beaver's, 
Shinga's  Old  Town,  or  Sokhon.  It  was  a  noted  station  for  the 
fur  trade  and  frequently  served  as  a  base  of  operations  in  the 
border  raids  of  the  time.  King  Beaver,  from  whom  the  creek  and 
settlement  took  their  names,  was  the  supreme  chief  of  the  Dela- 
wares  —  an  ally  of  the  English  against  the  French  until  Braddock's 
defeat,  but  after  that  catastrophe  a  dangerous  neutral,  and  in  the 
end  a  leader  in  the  Pontiac  conspiracy.  The  present  town  of 
Beaver  was  laid  out  in  1792.  Cuming  says  of  it  in  1807 :  "  It 
stands  on  a  stony  plain  on  the  top  of  the  high  cliff  which  con- 
ceals it  from  the  river  and  contains  about  thirty  indifferent  houses, 
much  scattered,  on  three  parallel  streets"  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  iv,  p.  98).  Flint,  in  1818,  says  that  within  three  miles  of 
the  mouth  of  the  Beaver  he  found  three  saw-mills,  a  grist-mill, 
an  iron  furnace  and  forge,  a  fulling-mill,  a  carding-mill,  and  a 
mill  for  bruising  flax-seed  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  ix,  p.  95). 
These  were  the  mills,  of  course,  of  which  Fordham  speaks. 


Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 


in  the  Indian  Wars.  In  Mr.  N 's  house  I  found 

books  of  taste;  Ariosto,  the  English  poets,  &c  &c, 
which  was  quite  refreshing  after  a  long  journey 
through  the  wilds  of  Pensylvania.  Major  N.  has 
given  me  a  letter  to  his  father  the  General. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  western  towns  are  not  so 
hospitable  as  they  were  formerly.  The  constant 
stream  of  emigration  would  make  such  hospitality 
enormously  expensive.  Besides  there  are  so  many 
unworthy  characters  amongst  these  emigrants,  that 
the  people  are  become  shy  of  them. 

Saturday  2 Ist.  The  hills  are  now  rather  lower, 
and  the  woods  a  little  more  broken  by  settlements. 

Mr.  and  ,  my  fellow  passengers,  landed 

at  Wheeling,1  which  is  the  Court  house  town  of 

*The  first  building  constructed  on  the  site  of  Wheeling  was 
Fort  Fincastle,  a  stockade  erected  during  Lord  Dunmore's  war  in 
1774.  The  name  of  the  structure  was  subsequently  changed  to 
Fort  Henry,  in  honor  of  Governor  Patrick  Henry  of  Virginia. 
The  first  town  lots  at  the  place  were  laid  out  in  1783  by  Colonel 
Ebenezer  Zane,  who  had  taken  up  the  land  of  the  vicinity  twenty- 
three  years  before.  In  1797  the  town  became  the  seat  of  Ohio 
County^  Virginia.  At  an  early  date  Wheeling  began  to  rival  Pitts- 
burg  as  a  depot  for  westward  commerce.  Her  advantage  at  first 
lay  simply  in  the  fact  that  by  shipping  goods  down  the  Ohio  from 
this  point,  rather  than  from  Pittsburg,  nearly  a  hundred  miles 
of  the  upper  course  of  the  river  —  the  portion  most  difficult  to 
navigate  in  low  water  —  were  avoided.  The  only  disadvantage  was 
that  a  day  more  was  required  to  reach  Wheeling  from  the  East. 
In  1818,  when  the  Cumberland  Road  was  completed  to  this  place, 
the  obstacles  of  bad  travel  and  delay  were  largely  removed.  The 
new  highway  was  the  shortest  route  from  Baltimore  and  Wash- 
ington to  the  Ohio,  and  being  in  addition  free  from  tolls  until 
it  was  ceded  to  the  states  in  1830-35,  it  became  the  great  rival  thor- 
oughfare of  the  northern  route  by  the  Pennsylvania  State  Road. 
Flint,  in  1818,  says  that  the  carriage  of  goods  was  already  cheaper 
from  Baltimore  to  Wheeling  than  from  Philadelphia  to  Pitts- 
burg  ( EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  ix,  p.  105).  For  descriptions  of 
Wheeling  in  the  early  part  of  the  century  see  Francois  Andre 
Michaux,  Travels  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iii,  p.  171)  ;  Fortescue 
Cuming,  Sketches  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv.  p.  113)  ;  Thaddeus 
M.  Harris,  Journal  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iii,  p.  349)  ;  Thomas 


Pittsburg  to  Cincinnati  85 

Ohio  (the  County,  Virginia)  and  contains  120 
houses  1 1  stores  and  2  inns.  I  bought  a  tin  pot  for 
boiling  coffee  for  62l/2  Cents.  Several  men  were 
drinking  at  the  Tavern.  At  9  A.  M.  this  day  it  was 
excessively  hot.  A  shower  fell,  and  the  moisture 
immediately  rose  off  the  plants  in  dense  steam.  We 
moored  at  night  below  Fish  Creek1  five  miles  from 
Wheeling,  after  having  advanced  40  miles  in  the 
day.  As  we  were  passing  Fish  Creek,  our  pratoon 
pointed  out  a  boat  moored  in  the  mouth  of  it,  which 

he  said  was  Dr.  B 's.     The  skiff  was  directly 

sent  off  and  I  jumped  in.  My  greatest  exer- 
tions could  not  prevent  its  being  driven  down 
by  the  strength  of  the  current  about  100  yards, 
as  there  was  a  counter  current  close  in  shore. 
With  some  difficulty  I  got  round  the  point  into 
the  Creek.  To  my  disappointment,  it  was  not 
the  Doctor's  boat.  I  then  put  off  again;  a  bend 
of  the  river  was  just  taking  the  boats  from  my 
sight,  which  were  already  a  mile  and  a  half 
ahead.  Evening  was  closing  in — I  rowed  hard, 
turned  the  bend,  and  the  boats  were  out  of  sight.  As 
there  were  many  islands,  I  was  afraid  of  taking 
the  wrong  current  and  passing  the  boats.  The 
darkness  increased;  I  could  not  see  either  shore. 
After  shouting  several  times  and  rowing  about  half 

Nuttall,  Journal  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xiii,  p.  51)  ;  Adlard 
Welby,  Visit  to  North  America  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xii, 
pp.  204-205)  ;  and  John  Woods,  Two  Years'  Residence  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  p.  221). 

1  For  the  connection  of  the  Fish  Creek  region  with  the  early 
life  of  George  Rogers  Clark,  see  Thwaites  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  iii,  p.  350,  note  37). 


86  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

an  hour,  I  heard  voices  in  answer;  and  presently  I 
saw  a  light.  It  was  kindled  on  the  deck  of  one  of  the 
boats,  which  was  moored  under  the  shade  of  some 
gigantic  Sycamores.  The  sultry  dark  night — the 
croaking  of  the  frogs  —  and  the  innumerable  fire- 
flies, which  were  flashing  among  the  trees,  all  fore- 
told a  storm;  which  came  on  an  hour  after  mid- 
night. The  lightning  fell  so  near  us,  that  we  dis- 
tinctly heard  it  whiz  through  the  air.  The  trees, 
rocks,  and  hills  were  at  times  distinctly  visible  in 
the  intense  blaze,  then  lost  in  utter  darkness ;  while 
the  sky  was  rent  by  rattling  thunder.  The  thunder- 
storms in  England  are  insignificant  to  those  of 
America. 

Sunday  the  22*.  We  made  a  short  trip  this  3ay; 
— not  quite  40  miles.  The  banks  of  the  river  here 
are  exceedingly  crooked,  high,  and  crowned  with' 
dark  forests. 

"Monday  2$.    tan'ded  at  Marietta1  at  9  A".  M.,  a 

1  Marietta  is  located  at  the  junction  of  the  Muskingum  and  the 
Ohio,  about  sixty  miles  below  Wheeling.  The  town  dates  from 
1788  and.  unlike  most  of  the  settlements  of  the  Ohio  Valley,  had 
its  origin  in  migration  from  New  England  rather  than  from  the 
southern  states.  In  1786  a  group  of  soldiers  who  were  interested 
in  securing  the  bounty  lands  due  them  for  service  in  the  Revo- 
lution organized  at  Boston  what  was  known  as  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany, with  a  view  to  getting  possession  of  a  considerable  tract  of 
land  in  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio.  As  soon  as  the 
Northwest  Ordinance  was  enacted,  in  1787,  the  company  desig- 
nated Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler  to  make  the  necessary  contract  with 
Congress.  The  result  was  an  arrangement  for  the  purchase  of 
1,500,000  acres  at  662-3  cents  per  acre.  At  a  meeting  of  the  com- 
pany in  Boston.  August  30.  1787,  it  was  voted  that  5,760  acres 
about  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum  should  be  reserved  for  a  town 
and  commons.  In  November  of  the  same  year  twenty-two  me- 
chanics set  out  from  Danvers,  Massachusetts,  to  begin  prepara- 
tions for  the  new  settlement,  and  within  a  twelvemonth  a  town 
of  considerable  proportions  had  been  laid  out  and  given  a  very 
respectable  population.  The  site  chosen  was  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Muskingum,  opposite  Fort  Harmar  —  a  stronghold  constructed 


Pitts  burg  to  Cincinnati  87 

pretty  town  on  the  banks  of  the  Muskingham,  hav- 
ing about  1 20  houses.  This  town  is  laid  out  on  rath- 
er a  large  scale,  which  will  not  be  filled  up  for  a 
century  or  more.  The  streets  are  now  green  lanes, 
bounded  by  worm  fences.  Where  houses  ought  to 
be,  there  are  now  groves  or  gardens.  The  land  is 
good,  and  pretty  well  cultivated.  Here  I  found  Dr. 
B.,  whose  men  were  going  to  leave  him.  He  wished 
me  much  to  take  the  command  of  his  boat,  which 
T  declined,  as  I  did  not  like  to  leave  my  luggage. 
I,  however,  found  and  engaged  two  sailors  for  him. 
The  banks  of  the  Ohio  are  now  comparatively  low 
and  fertile,  both  on  the  Ohio  and  Kentucky  side, 
but  most  so  on  that  of  the  latter  state.  They  are 
not  yet  more  than  broken  into  by  the  axe  of  the  cul- 
tivator. The  Muskingham  is  a  fine  river.  It  is 
crossed  by  a  ferry  boat,  attached  to  a  cable  stretched 
high  above  the  water,  alternately  at  the  head  and 
stern  of  the  ferry  boat  it  is  carried  over  either 


in  1785-86  by  a  detachment  of  troops  under  Major  John  Doughty 
to  afford  protection  to  the  Virginia  frontiers.  The  name  first 
given  the  New  England  settlement  was  Adelphi,  but  this  was  soon 
changed  to  Marietta,  in  honor  of  the  queen  of  France,  Marie  An- 
toinette, whose  gracious  reception  of  Franklin  at  court  was  just 
then  the  subject  of  admiring  comment  throughout  America.  The 
town  did  not  grow  as  its  founders  hoped  it  would,  chiefly  be- 
cause the  rich  interior  of  Ohio  offered  immigrants  too  many 
counter  attractions.  For  a  description  of  the  place  in  1802  see 
F.  A.  Michaux,  Travels  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  Hi,  p.  177)  ;  in 
1807,  Cuming,  Sketches  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  p.  124)  ;  in 
1811,  Melish,  Travels,  ii,  pp.  101-107;  in  1818,  Flint,  Letters  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  ix,  p.  109),  and  Evans,  Pedestrians  Tour  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  viii,  p.  264)  ;  and  in  1820,  Woods,  Two  Years' 
Residence  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  p.  223).  Thomas  J.  Sum- 
mers, History  of  Marietta  (Marietta,  1003)  is  useful.  There  is 
an  interesting  plan  of  Marietta  in  1803  in  Thaddeus  M.  Harris, 
Journal,  which  is  reproduced  in  Winsor,  The  Westward  Movement, 
P-  303. 


Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 


way  by  the  force  of  the  current.1    This  evening  Mr. 

P and  I  went  forward  in  the  skiff  to  examine  a 

cave  near  the  mouth  of  Shade  river;  but  this  river 
is  so  concealed  by  rocks  and  trees,  that  we  passed 
it  without  seeing  it,  and  we  were  unable  to  row 
back  before  the  boats  came  down. 

As  the  late  rains  have  made  the  waters  uncom- 
monly high,  our  pratoon  held  on  all  night.  On 
Tuesday  we  passed  Blannerhasset's  Island.2  The 
Estate  the  proprietor  forfeited  on  account  of  some 


1This  ferry  was  noted  and  described  by  almost  every  traveller 
who  visited  Marietta,  for  example,  by  Thomas  Hulme,  Journal 
(EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  p.  40). 

2Blennerhassett's  Island  lies  eighteen  miles  below  Marietta  and 
two  below  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Kanawha  and  the  present  city 
of  Parkersburg,  West  Virginia.  It  is  three  and  a  half  miles  in 
length  and  contains  about  500  acres  of  very  fertile  land.  Harman 
Blennerhassett,  from  whom  the  island  takes  its  name,  was  an 
Irishman  of  wealth  and  refinement  who  migrated  to  the  United 
States  out  of  admiration  for  American  democratic  government  and 
society.  In  1798  he  bought  the  island  below  the  Little  Kanawha 
and  there  established  his  family  in  a  home  which  soon  became 
noted  as  a  centre  of  culture  and  good  manners.  In  1805  the 
Blennerhassetts  were  visited  by  Aaron  Burr,  then  on  his  way  to 
New  Orleans,  and  unfortunately  the  gifted  proprietor  was  so  at- 
tracted by  the  questionable  schemes  of  the  plotter  that  he  com- 
mitted himself  unreservedly  to  them  and  staked  his  whole  fortune 
upon  their  success.  In  little  more  than  a  year  the  bubble  had 
burst,  Burr  was  a  refugee,  and  Blennerhassett  had  been  himself 
compelled  to  seek  safety  in  flight.  Both  men  were  arrested  and 
tried  for  treason,  but.  on  technical  grounds,  acquitted.  In  the 
meantime  the  Blennerhassett  estate  was  overrun  by  hungry  credi- 
tors and  seriously  impaired  in  value.  In  1811  the  fine  mansion, 
with  all  the  art  treasures  and  books  it  contained,  was  ruined  by 
an  accidental  fire,  and  thereafter  little  was  left  to  tell  of  the 
splendor  of  the  place  in  its  happier  days.  Blennerhassett  him- 
self eked  out  a  pitiable  existence  as  a  virtual  outlaw  and  exile 
until  his  death,  on  the  Island  of  Guernsey,  in  1831.  Cuming, 
in  his  Sketches,  gives  a  very  interesting  description  of  the  Blen- 
nerhassett estate  as  it  appeared  in  1807  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS, 
iv,  pp.  128-130)  ;  and  Melish  (Travels,  ii.  p.  109)  describes  it  in  its 
deserted  condition  in  1811.  For  an  account  of  the  island  as  it 
is  to-day  see  Thwaites,  OH  the  Storied  Ohio,  pp.  95-98. 


Pittsburg  to  Cincinnati 


attempt  which  he  made  to  excite  an  insurrection 
against  the  government  of  the  United  States. 

Galliopagus1  was  the  next  village,  which  struck 
my  fancy.  It  was  founded  by  a  hundred  French 
families,  about  30  years  ago,  on  the  Ohio  side. 
Their  title  was  a  bad  one,  and  all  who  were  not 
rich  enough  to  purchase  their  estates  a  second  time 
were  ejected.  The  place  has  not  flourished  since, 
although  its  site  is  most  beautiful. 

On  Wednesday  we  moored  at  Portsmouth2  390 

JThe  writer  means  Gallipolis.  This  town  is  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  Ohio,  nearly  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Kanawha. 
it  is  about  one  hundred  miles  below  Marietta.  The  early  history 
of  Gallipolis  was  extremely  unfortunate,  as  Fordham  suggests. 
The  Scioto  Company,  an  off-shoot  of  the  Ohio  Company,  pro- 
posed to  reap  a  harvest  by  disposing  of  its  western  lands  to  dis- 
contented inhabitants  of  France,  and  in  1788  sent  an  agent  to 
Paris  in  the  person  of  the  poet  Joel  Barlow  to  advertize  the 
attractions  of  the  American  West  and  to  stimulate  emigration 
thither.  Barlow  executed  his  commission  faithfully,  with  the  re- 
sult that  in  1790  about  six  hundred  French  people  —  of  every  type 
but  that  adapted  to  frontier  life  —  arrived  en  route  at  Alexandria, 
Virginia.  There  the  prospective  settlers  were  compelled  to  tarry 
fifteen  months,  to  await  the  termination  of  Indian  uprisings  on 
the  Ohio  and  to  secure  new  land  titles  as  far  as  possible,  in  the 
place  of  worthless  ones  which  the  Company  had  tricked  them  into 
accepting.  After  the  emigrants  finally  arrived  on  the  Scioto  they 
proved  totally  unable  to  cope  with  the  hardships  of  backwoods 
existence.  By  granting  them  20,000  acres  of  land  between  the 
mouth  of  the  Sandy  and  Scioto  rivers  Congress  endeavored  to 
make  amends  for  the  Company's  swindle,  and  the  thirty  families 
who  removed  to  this  tract,  settling  at  the  mouth  of  the  Great 
Scioto,  succeeded  for  a  time  fairly  well.  But  Gallipolis  was  an 
absolute  failure,  and,  but  for  the  coming  in  of  American  settlers, 
would  likely  have  been  completely  extinguished.  There  is  to-day 
almost  no  trace  of  the  town's  French  origin.  F.  A.  Michaux, 
in  his  Travels,  says  that  in  1807  the  settlement  was  composed  of 
sixty  log-houses,  mostly  uninhabited  and  falling  to  pieces,  the  re- 
mainder occupied  by  Frenchmen  "  who  breathe  out  a  miserable 
existence"  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iii,  p.  184).  Melish  (Travels, 
ii,  pp.  115-117)  gives  the  place,  in  1811,  a  population  of  300.  See 
"  Centennial  of  Gallipolis,"  in  Ohio  Archaeological  and  Historical 
Society  Publications,  iii. 

2  Portsmouth,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto,  was  laid  out  in  1803 
by  Henry  Massie,  taking  its  name  from  Portsmouth,  Virginia. 


9O  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

miles  from  Pittsburg.  The  men  at  the  oars  of  the 
second  boat,  Germans  and  Swiss,  not  understand- 
ing the  orders  of  the  Pratoon,  pulled  it  into  a  cur- 
rent they  were  unable  to  stem,  and  it  was  driven 
against  a  tree  with  a  tremendous  crash.  It  was 
loaded  with  Iron,  and  had  my  luggage  on  board. 
It  got  off  with  no  material  damage,  except  being 
stripped  of  one  of  its  roofs.  Whilst  the  attention 
of  our  people  was  called  off  to  that  boat,  we  were 
drifting  on  a  Planter,  the  point  of  which  projected 
about  a  foot  above  the  water.  Our  Pratoon  called 
the  men  to  their  duty;  but  though  the  boat  cleared 
it,  one  oar,  made  of  an  entire  tree,  caught  against 
the  stump.  The  men  dropped  down  to  save  them- 
selves; I  had  that  moment,  thrown  myself  on  the 
oar  to  assist  them.  Its  recoil  threw  me  into  the 
boat,  with  no  injury  but  a  slight  contusion  on  the 
thigh. 

After   we  had  moored  at  Portsmouth,   Mess". 

P C and  myself  went  to  the  mouth  of  the 

Scioto,  and  then  into  the  skiff,  to  see  the  ancient 
Indian  fort  opposite  Alexandria.1  The  Shawanees, 


The  surrounding  region,  being  a  noted  rendezvous  of  the  Shaw- 
nees,  had  long  been  resorted  to  with  frequency  by  French  and 
English  fur-traders.  Travellers  generally  speak  well  of  the  town 
in  its  early  years.  Cuming  (Sketches)  tells  us,  in  1807,  that 
though  it  contained  as  yet  but  twenty  houses  it  had  a  handsome 
and  healthy  situation  and,  as  the  seat  of  Scioto  County,  was  likely 
to  grow  to  be  a  place  of  some  importance  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  iv,  p.  161).  Flint  (Letters  from  America)  says,  in  1818, 
that  it  was  well-built  and  had  a  court  house,  a  newspaper  office, 
a  woollen  factory,  a  number  of  stores,  and  several  good  taverns 
(EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  ix,  p.  113).  See  Thwaites,  On  the 
Storied  Ohio,  pp.  151-154- 

1  Alexandria  is  situated  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Scioto,  op- 
posite Portsmouth.     The  town  was  founded  by  Major  John  Belli, 


Pittsburg  to  Cincinnati  91 

though  not  the  first  constructors  of  the  fort,  which 
is  a  circular  redoubt,  were  defeated  here  by  Gen. 
St.  Clair1  35  years  ago,  and  have  since  descended 
the  Mississippi.  After  a  charming  ramble  of  an 
hour,  we  attempted  the  arduous  task  of  rowing,  pol- 
ing, and  dragging  the  skiff  up  the  stream  about  two 
miles  and  a  half.  The  flood  had  run  in  among  the 
trees,  and  the  eddies  and  counter-currents  helped 

an  Englishman  who  settled  at  Alexandria,  Virginia,  in  1783,  and 
who,  after  1791,  interested  himself  in  the  development  of  the  Ohio 
country.  The  site  of  Alexandria  was  occupied  in  the  first  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century  by  the  chief  town  of  the  Shawnees  — 
the  place  at  which,  in  March,  1751,  Christopher  Gist  was  warned 
back  while  inspecting  lands  for  the  Ohio  Company.  In  1753  a  flood 
led  the  Shawnees  to  abandon  the  place.  Some  of  them  sought 
new  homes  in  regions  further  north,  while  others  established  a 
new  village  across  the  Scioto,  on  the  site  of  Portsmouth.  Cum- 
ing,  returning  from  his  western  tour  in  1807,  visited  Belli's  new 
town,  subsequently  recording  in  his  Sketches :  "  This  village  .  .  . 
is  nicknamed  Hardscramble,  either  from  the  hilly  roads  by  which 
one  arrives  at  it,  or  from  the  difficulty  experienced  by  the  first 
settlers  to  obtain  a  subsistence.  It  contains  about  a  dozen  houses 
and  cabins,  a  meeting  house,  and  three  taverns,  but  does  not  seem 
to  thrive"  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  p.  237).  The  fort  to 
which  Fordham  refers  was  across  the  Ohio,  on  the  Kentucky 
shore,  on  the  site  of  the  present  Springville. 

1  General  Arthur  St.  Clair  was  a  Scotchman  who  came  to 
America  in  1755  with  Admiral  Boscowen.  He  served  in  Canada 
under  General  Wolfe  in  1759-60  and  after  the  close  of  the  war 
was  placed  in  command  of  Fort  Ligonier  in  Pennsylvania.  He 
had  an  honorable  career  in  the  Revolution,  rising  to  the  rank  of 
major-general,  and  rendering  Washington  valued  service  in  the 
Yorktown  campaign.  In  1786  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Continental  Congress  from  Pennsylvania,  and  the  following  year 
he  became  president  of  that  body,  now  about  to  expire.  When 
the  Northwest  Territory  was  organized  under  the  Ordinance  of 
1787  he  was  made  its  first  governor.  In  this  office  he  remained 
until  1802,  when  Ohio  was  on  the  point  of  being  constituted  a 
state.  In  1790  occurred  one  of  the  periodic  movements  of  the 
Indians  of  the  West  to  expel  the  whites.  General  Harmar  was 
ordered  to  conduct  the  campaign  against  the  redskins,  but  be- 
ing at  least  partially  defeated  in  the  Maumee  country,  he  was  re- 
placed after  a  few  months  by  St.  Clair.  September  17,  1791,  the 
new  commander  set  out  from  Fort  Washington  (on  the  site  of 
Cincinnati)  for  the  country  about  Detroit;  but  on  November  4 
he  was  surprised  and  totally  defeated  on  the  banks  of  a  small 


92  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

us,  but  so  often  was  the  skiff  bumped  against  logs, 
that  Mr.  C.  preferred  walking  on  shore  and  drag- 
ging the  rope  when  he  could.  In  two  hours  and  a 
half  we  got  up  the  river,  high  enough  to  cross  over 
to  Portsmouth.  With  two  oars  and  two  paddles, 
we  worked  as  hard  as  three  young  men  in  high 
spirits  could  work.  We  dashed  across  in  the  midst 
of  floating  logs  and  branches  of  trees,  which  the 
river  was  bringing  down  in  great  abundance. 

Thursday .  A  heavy  thunderstorm  and  rain 

kept  us  within  this  morning.  Called  at  Manches- 
ter,1 a  village  of  25  houses  in  the  State  of  Ohio. 
Here,  as  in  all  the  Ohio  towns,  the  people  are  rude 
and  half  civilized,  yet  very  sharp  and  inquisitive. 

We  reached  at  length  the  pleasant  thriving  town 
of  Maysville,2  Adam's  County,  Kentucky.  Here 


tributary  of  the  Wabash.  St.  Clair  retired  from  command  in 
chagrin,  popular  sentiment  generally  holding  him  at  fault.  He 
was  succeeded  by  General  Wayne,  who  defeated  the  Indians  in 
August,  1794,  and  concluded  a  lasting  peace  with  them  at  Green- 
ville, Ohio,  a  year  later.  After  yielding  the  governorship  of  the 
Northwest  Territory  in  1802,  St.  Clair  lived  in  obscurity  in  Penn- 
sylvania until  his  death  in  1818. 

Manchester  is  in  Adams  County,  Ohio,  twelve  miles  above 
Maysville.  It  was  laid  out  in  1791  by  Nathaniel  Massie,  a  sur- 
veyor of  bounty  lands,  and  was  the  pioneer  Virginia  settlement  on 
the  north  bank  of  the  Ohio.  The  town's  growth  was  very  slow. 
Cuming  (Sketches)  says  that  in  1807  it  had  only  ten  houses  and 
was  not  likely  to  thrive,  owing  to  the  proximity  of  Maysville, 
Kentucky  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  p.  167). 

2  Maysville,  in  the  earlier  years  of  its  history,  was  commonly 
known  as  Limestone,  from  the  quantity  of  rock  of  that  variety 
found  in  the  neighborhood.  The  first  building  upon  its  site  was 
a  blockhouse  erected  in  1783.  The  town  may  be  said  to  have  been 
settled  the  following  year,  and  in  1787  it  was  incorporated  by  the 
Virginia  legislature.  F.  A.  Michaux  (Travels)  says,  in  1802, 
that  it  had  thirty  or  forty  houses  of  wood;  that  it  had  long  been 
the  place  where  all  emigrants  by  way  of  Pittsburg  and  the  Ohio 
landed;  and  that  it  was  still  the  staple  for  all  sorts  of  mer- 


Pittsburg  to  Cincinnati  93 

the  tall,  pale,  well  dressed  men,  and  agreeable  look- 
ing women,  reminded  me  of  Virginia,  of  which 
Kentucky  is  an  offslip.  There  are  a  few  slaves  in 
this  place,  comfortable,  sleek  looking  fellows.  We 
entered  the  port  in  the  afternoon,  amid  repeated 
feux  de  joie  from  some  small  pieces  of  cannon.  On 
enquiring  the  cause,  we  learnt  that  a  vessel  from 
Baltimore  had  just  arrived  with  Gen.  N.  from  New 
Orleans,  and  several  from  Pittsburg,  and  on  this 
account  they  were  firing.  I  smiled  at  the  cause,  yet 
I  could  not  but  admire  the  effect  of  this  cannonade. 
The  echoes  rolled  along  the  high  banks  like  claps  of 
thunder. 

The  dislike  of  Slavery  is  becoming  less  violent. 
There  are  more  men  of  refined  manners  and  culti- 
vated minds  in  the  slave  states,  than  in  those  that 
are  more  consistently  democratic.  This  I  learn 
more  from  information  than  observation;  yet  both 
more  and  more  confirm  me  in  this  opinion.  Behind 
this  town  is  a  fine,  rocky,  eminence,  up  to  which  we 
scrambled  through  a  watercourse.  On  the  top,  we 
were  rewarded  for  our  trouble  by  a  birds-eye  view 
of  the  Town,  and  the  river  of  Limestone  Creek,  as 

chandise  sent  from  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  to  Kentucky  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iii,  p.  195).  The  distance  from  Maysville  to 
Lexington  was  only  sixty-five  miles  by  the  road  running  through 
the  present  Mason,  Fleming,  Nicholas,  Bourbon,  and  Fayette 
counties,  by  way  of  Mayslick,  Millersburg,  and  Paris.  Cuming 
(Sketches)  says,  in  1807,  that  the  place  was  not  growing  and 
existed  merely  on  the  traffic  passing  through  it,  but  that  it  was 
the  greatest  shipping  port  on  the  Ohio  below  Pittsburg  —  the  port 
for  northeastern  Kentucky  as  Louisville  was  for  the  southwestern 
part  of  that  state  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  p.  169).  Other 
characterizations  may  be  found  in  Flint,  Letters  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  ix,  pp.  127-131)  and  in  Welby,  Visit  to  North  America, 
(EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xii,  pp.  214-218). 


94  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

rich  and  beautiful  as  can  be  imagined.  The  top  of 
the  hill  is  a  rich,  black,  earth,  producing  abundant 
crops  of  Indian  corn  and  wheat :  the  latter  is  chang- 
ing colour.  .  .  . 

In  two  days  I  shall  see  my  friends  in  Cincinnati, 
from  whom  I  have  been  separated  seven  weeks  to- 
day; and  I  have  travelled  in  that  time  1200  miles. 

Saturday.  Left  the  pretty  town  of  Augusta;1 

went  to  Gen.  N 's  villa  with  a  letter  from  his 

son.  I  spent  great  part  of  the  day  with  this  fine  old 
gentleman  and  his  amiable  family.  .  .  . 

We  moored  in  the  course  of  the  day  seven  miles 
from  Cincinnati.  If  a  thundergust  had  not  oc- 
curred, I  should  have  gone  thither  in  the  skiff,  but 
it  was  not  possible.  So  I  rolled  about  in  my  blanket 
all  night,  called  the  Pratoon  before  day,  tugged  at 
the  oar  with  the  men,  and  got  to  Cincinnati2  early 

in  the  morning.  I  saw and  the  rest  of  the 

party,  who  are  all  well  and  happy. 

1  Augusta,  once  the  seat  of  justice  of  Bracken  County,  Kentucky, 
is  about  twenty  miles  below  Maysville  and  forty-two  above  Cin- 
cinnati. It  is  important  only  as  a  shipping  point  for  tobacco. 
Woods  (Two  Years'  Residence)  tells  us,  in  1820,  that  the  town 
was  established  to  rival  Maysville  in  the  back-country  trade  and 
that  "it  appears  a  flourishing  place"  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS, 
x,  p.  233). 

"On  Cincinnati,  see  p.  183,  note. 


Lack  of  time  for  writing  —  The  trip  across  Indiana  —  Vincennes  — 
The  Indians  of  the  neighborhood  —  Princeton  —  Prices  of 
land. 

St  Vincennes  State  of  Indiana 
July  26.  1817. 

I  WROTE  to  C as  I  descended  the  Ohio,  and  fin- 
ished my  letter  at  Cincinnati  and  sent  it  thence  to 
Philadelphia.  I  hope  it  has  been  received  safe  by 
this  time,  for  I  had  great  pleasure  in  writing  it,  and 
often  pictured  to  myself  your  family  circle,  gath- 
ered together  in  the  garden  parlour,  listening  to  the 
narrative  of  the  journey  ings  of  their  poor  wan- 
derer. .  .  . 

I  cannot  give  you  a  journal  of  our  march  across 
Indiana :  many  sheets  of  paper  could  not  contain  it ; 
and  I  am  too  well  employed  in  business  or  too  much 
engaged  in  the  pleasures  of  the  chase,  to  devote 
much  time  to  writing.  Do  not  take  this  confession 
unkindly ;  if  I  am  wrong,  I  have  many  excuses  and 
palliatives  to  offer;  —  but  I  know  you  will  excuse 
me. 

We  travelled  on  horseback,  each  person  fur- 
nished with  an  upper  and  under  blanket,  and  sad- 
dle-bags, and  two  pack  horses  with  extra  luggage 
and  bedding.  Taverns  on  the  road  are  bad  and 
"few  and  far  between."  Farmers  have  generally 
a  room  appropriated  to  the  reception  of  travellers, 
for  whose  food  they  charge  moderately.  We  were 
furnished  with  guns  and  tomohawks,  and  all  things 


96  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

necessary  to  encamp  in  the  woods ;  which  Mr.  B.  act- 
ually did  one  night ;  but  the  main  body  of  the  party 
escaped  that  adventure. 

Indiana  is  a  vast  forest,  larger  than  England,  just 
penetrated  in  places,  by  the  back-wood  settlers,  who 
are  half  hunters,  half  farmers.1 

This  old  town,  which  was  a  settlement  made  by 
the  Indian  traders,  stands  near  the  river  on  a  beau- 
tiful prairie,  surrounded  by  woods  and  gently  rising 
hills.  Its  inhabitants  are  Canadian  and  European 
French,  Anglo  Americans,  Negroes,  and  a  few  half- 
bre[e]d  Indians.  The  French  have  given  their  tone 
of  manners  to  the  place.2 

There  are  many  Indians  in  the  neighborhood, 
Delawares,  Miamies,  and  Kaskaskians.  The  for- 

1  Birkbeck  gives  a  reasonably  full  account  of  the  expedition  of 
his  party  (including  Fordham)  across  southern  Indiana.  His  ob- 
servations on  the  people  and  resources  of  the  state,  if  cursory,  are 
yet  interesting.  See  Notes  on  a  Journey  in  America,  pp.  90-98. 

2The  founding  of  Vincennes  has  been  assigned  to  various  years 
between  1702  and  1735.  The  most  probable  date  is  the  latter, 
though  it  appears  that  Francois  Morgan,  Sieur  de  Vincennes,  at 
the  command  of  Governor  Perier  of  Louisiana,  visited  the  site  of 
the  future  town  as  early  as  1727  and  erected  a  fort  to  counteract 
the  designs  of  the  English  on  the  Indian  trade  of  the  Wabash 
Valley.  But  the  first  authenticated  settlement  of  Frenchmen  with 
their  families  occurred  in  1735.  When  George  Croghan  visited 
the  town  thirty  years  later  he  found  it  to  contain  eighty  or  ninety 
French  families — "an  idle,  lazy  people,  a  parcel  of  renegadoes 
from  Canada,  much  worse  than  the  Indians."  Tours  into  the 
Western  Country  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  i,  pp.  141-142).  Faux, 
in  1819,  says  in  his  Memorable  Days  that  although  long  the  capi- 
tal and  mother-town  of  the  state,  Vincennes  looked  like  an  "  old, 
worn-out,  dirty  village  of  wooden  frame  houses,  which  a  fire 
might  much  improve"  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xi,  p.  207). 
Welby  (Visit  to  North  America)  gives  an  interesting  account  of 
a  sojourn  at  the  place  in  1819  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xii,  pp.  236- 
248).  The  generally  unfavorable  comments  of  the  travellers  may 
be  off-set  and  incidentally  explained  somewhat  by  the  following 
statement  of  Birkbeck  (Notes,  p.  105),  in  1817:  "There  is  nothing 
in  Vincennes,  on  its  first  appearance,  to  make  a  favourable  im- 


Cincinnati  to  Vincennes  97 

mer  tribe  contains  about  1200  warriors,  and  are  a 
fierce,  determined  race  of  men.  The  Miamies  and 
Kaskaskians,  though  excellent  warriors,  are  more 
mild.  They  all  hunt  and  fight  with  rifles,  and  are 
good  marksmen.  I  have  seen  a  young  Delaware 
warrior  present  a  heavy  rifle,  and  hold  it  immova- 
ble without  a  rest,  for  several  minutes.  Some  of 
the  Miamies  are  very  fine  fellows;  comparatively 
rich.  Their  Tomohawks  and  guns  are  beautifully 
ornamented.  They  ride  blood  ponies ;  and  some  of 
them  have  handsome  saddles  and  bridles.1 

I  have  received  an  invitation  to  visit  a  camp  of 
Miamies,  a  few  miles  hence,  and  to  join  a  hunting 
party.  I  have  declined  it,  not  being  master  of  suf- 
ficient leisure,  nor  do  I  know  enough  of  the  Indian, 
who  invited  me,  to  entrust  myself  with  them. 

We  staid  at  St.  Vincennes  a  week,  then  went  25 
miles  S.  W.  to  a  little  new  town,  called  Princetown,2 
of  about  20  houses,  situated  in  the  woods.  We  like 
the  place  so  much  that  a  house  is  hired  for  9  months 

pression  on  a  stranger;  but  it  improves  on  acquaintance,  for  it 
contains  agreeable  people:  and  there  is  a  spirit  of  cleanliness, 
and  even  neatness  in  their  houses  and  manner  of  living:  there 
is  also  a  strain  of  politeness,  which  marks  the  origin  of  this  settle- 
ment in  a  way  very  flattering  to  the  French."  The  development  of 
Vincennes  will  be  found  well  treated  in  the  histories  of  Indiana 
by  Dillon,  Dunn,  and  William  H.  Smith,  and  in  Hubbard  M. 
Smith's  Historical  Sketches  of  Old  Vincennes  (Vincennes,  1902). 

1  Birkbeck  gives  a  valuable  description  of  the  Indians  of  the 
Vincennes  region  in  his  Notes,  pp.  99-100. 

2Princeton  is  situated  about  thirty  miles  south  of  Vincennes, 
within  two  miles  of  the  Patoka  River  and  ten  of  the  Wabash.  The 
first  settlement  in  the  vicinity  was  made  as  early  as  1800.  In 
1813  Gibson  County  was  erected  and  Princeton  became  its  seat. 
Town  lots  were  first  put  on  sale  in  1814.  The  place  received  its 
name  from  William  Prince,  an  Indian  agent  located  there  in 
1812,  subsequently  a  member  of  Congress.  Hulme  (JowrnaT) 


98  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

and  there  the  ladies,  servants,  and  myself  are  left, 
while  Mr.  B & go  on  to  explore. 

I  have  met  with  two  agreeable  men,  of  whom  I 
have  heard  excellent  characters,  and  who  have 

shown  me  great  civilities.  Mr.  H and  Col. 

E a  gentleman  from  Virginia.  The  latter, 

especially,  is  a  very  engaging  man;  just  after  my 
own  heart.  All  I  have  heard  of  him  has  been  favor- 
able, and  the  best  of  it  has  been  confirmed  to  me 
by  Gen. an  old  revolutionary  officer. 

Col.  E and  Mr.  H have  proposed  to  form 

a  grand  hunting  party,  as  soon  as  I  shall  be  at  leis- 
ure; and  Judge  P with  several  experienced 

hunters  are  to  go  with  us.  We  shall  be  out  sev- 
eral days.  Our  game  will  be  deer,  bears,  and  opos- 
sums. 

My  health  is  good.  I  never  sleep  in  a  bed :  usu- 
ally my  cloak  and  saddle-blanket,  spread  on  the 
floor,  form  my  couch.  The  climate  is  so  fine,  that 
sleeping  in  open  balconies  is  a  common  practice. 

I  left  Princetown  yesterday,  accompanied  by 

in  order  to  copy  a  map  of  the  Southern  part  of  the 
State  of  Indiana  from  the  Maps  of  the  Land  Of- 
fice. I  shall  most  probably  finish  it,  and  return, 
tomorrow. 

speaks  of  it  in  1818  as  a  very  dull  town  and  says  it  will  never 
be  otherwise  while  all  the  inhabitants  persist  in  attempting  to  be 
keepers  of  stores  and  taverns  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  p. 
46).  Faux  {Memorable  Days')  gives  an  account  of  a  sojourn 
there  a  few  years  after  Hulme's  visit  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS, 
xi,  pp.  214-224).  For  a  noteworthy  word-picture  of  the  develop- 
ment of  little  frontier  towns  of  the  type  of  Princeton,  see  Birk- 
beck,  Notes,  pp.  104-105.  The  families  of  Birkbeck  and  Flower  were 
left  at  Princeton  in  the  autumn  of  1817,  while  the  Illinois  prairies 
were  being  examined  and  places  of  habitation  prepared. 


Cincinnati  to  Vincennes  99 

Mr.  B.,  after  he  returns  from  the  Illinois  terri- 
tory, wishes  minutely  to  survey  the  banks  of  the 
Ohio,  from  the  Wabash  to  the  Great  Miami. 

Best  land  is  worth  6  or  7oo£  sterling  per  section : 
further  from  Market  35o£  or  4Oo£  —  uncleared. 

Let  important  letters  have  duplicates,  and  even 
triplicates,  sent  by  different  ships,  and  with  differ- 
ent directions. 


VI 

The  forests  of  Indiana  —  The  Indiana  Constitution  —  Character  and 
prices  of  land  —  Emigration  directed  further  west  —  Commer- 
cial importance  of  the  Mississippi  —  Unhealthy  conditions  on 
the  lower  Mississippi  —  The  Wabash  —  Description  of  Prince- 
ton —  Prospective  visit  to  the  Illinois  Territory. 


July  3 

Princetown,  Gibson  County,  Indiana. 

.  .  .  We  left  Cincinnati  in  the  last  week  in  June, 
and  crossed  over  the  Great  Miami  River  into  Indi- 
ana. Excepting  on  the  banks  of  the  Rivers  Ohio  and 
Wabash,  this  state  is  one  vast  forest,  intersected  by 
a  few  Blaze  roads1  and  two  or  three  open  roads. 
There  are  a  few  new  towns,  and  some  settlements 
on  and  near  the  state  roads  and  rivers.  These  are 
generally  from  one  to  three  years  old  ;  though  there 
are  much  older  and  more  substantial  improvements 
on  the  Ohio  ;  and  St  Vincennes  on  the  Wabash  was 
settled  30  years  ago.  Indiana  has  been  a  state  only 
two  years.  Its  constitution  seems  to  have  exhausted 
the  wisdom  of  all  ages  and  countries  —  so  complete 
is  it  —  and  yet  so  simple.  It  has  a  Governor,  who  is 
President  in  the  Senate,  and  Commander  in  Chief 
of  its  armies;  a  Lieutenant  Governor;  a  Senate;  a 
Legislative  body  ;  and  is  represented  in  Congress  by 
two  members.  Its  Executive  [sic]  consists  of  Cir- 

1  Blaze  roads  are  merely  lines,  marked  through  the  forests  by 
slices  of  bark,  like  a  blaze,  being  chopped  off  the  trees.  When 
a  road  is  surveyed,  the  trees  are  cut  down,  and  the  stumps  are 
left  to  rot  in  the  ground.  The  trees  on  each  side  are  notched 
at  convenient  distances,  to  distinguish  the  State  road  from  pri- 
vate ones  to  Plantations,  and  this  is  then  called  an  open  road. 

—  FORDHAM. 


Indiana  101 

cuit  Courts,  and  a  Supreme  Court.  Its  civil  code  is 
founded  on  the  Common  Law  of  England.  Every 
office,  civil  or  military,  is  elective,  and  held  only 
during  good  behaviour.  Every  citizen  is  by  law  a 
soldier,  but  he  need  not  enter  the  regular  army  un- 
less he  choose  it.  Every  Citizen  may  carry  what 
arms  he  please  for  the  defence  of  his  person  or  prop- 
erty. Slavery  is  not  allowed  in  this  State.  All  re- 
ligions are  equally  protected.  The  word  "tolerate" 
is  not  to  be  found  in  the  articles  of  their  Constitu- 
tion.1 

The  land  near  the  Water  Courses  is  excellent. 
Some  of  the  very  first  quality;  but  all  that  is  quite 
conveniently  situated  on  the  Ohio  banks,  that  is, 

1  There  is  a  similar  synopsis  of  the  Indiana  system  of  govern- 
ment in  William  Tell  Harris's  Tour  Through  the  United  States, 
pp.  136-137.  The  main  steps  in  the  organization  of  civil  govern- 
ment in  Indiana  may  be  indicated  briefly.  In  1800  Congress  made 
a  division  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  creating  a  separate  Indiana 
Territory  which  comprised  practically  all  of  the  original  except 
Ohio.  The  capital  was  fixed  at  Vincennes,  and  William  Henry 
Harrison  was  appointed  the  first  governor.  In  1805  Congress  at- 
tached to  Indiana  the  "  District  of  Louisiana " —  all  possessions 
west  of  the  Mississippi  and  north  of  33° ;  but  this  great  region 
was  detached  again  in  the  following  year.  In  1805,  also,  the 
Michigan  Territory  was  given  a  separate  organization.  The  first 
general  assembly  of  the  Indiana  Territory  met  at  Vincennes  July 
29,  1805.  In  1809  the  Territory  was  once  more  pared  down,  Illi- 
nois being  separated  from  it.  By  1810  the  population  of  Indiana 
proper  was  24,520.  In  1813  the  legislature  moved  the  territorial 
capital  from  Vincennes  to  Corydon,  on  the  Ohio.  In  1815  the 
legislature  petitioned  Congress  for  the  admission  of  Indiana  as 
a  state,  alleging  that  the  Territory  now  had  a  population  of  nearly 
67,000.  In  the  enabling  act  which  resulted,  in  1816,  Congress 
granted  the  forthcoming  state  four  sections  of  land  to  be  acquired 
from  the  Indians  for  a  new  seat  of  government.  The  legislature 
appointed  a  commission  to  select  a  site,  and  after  a  time  Indian- 
apolis was  chosen,  though  as  yet  the  place  was  but  a  wilderness 
more  than  sixty  miles  from  so  much  as  a  store;  the  capital  was 
not  transferred  thither  until  1825.  In  pursuance  of  the  enabling 
act  a  convention  of  delegates  met  at  Corydon,  June  10,  1816,  and 
framed  the  constitution  concerning  whose  features  Fordham 
speaks. 

7 


IO2  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

high,  dry,  and  rich,  has  been  already  entered.  It 
was  bought  at  the  auctions  of  the  U.  S.  at  high 
prices,  from  10  to  15$  pr.  acre.  What  was  not  then 
sold  may  now  be  purchased  at  2$  pr.  acre  at  the 
Land  Offices;  but  it  is  often  better  to  give  6  or  7$ 
per  acre  to  the  first  settler  for  his  chosen  section 
with  an  improvement  upon  it,  than  to  go  into  the 
woods,  away  from  a  navigable  river  and  take  land 
at  the  Land  Office  price.1  You  have  not  a  bad 

*The  earliest  arrangements  for  the  sale  of  public  land  were  ef- 
fected by  an  ordinance  of  1785,  which  established  the  quadrangular 
section  of  640  acres  as  the  unit.  During  the  next  eleven  years  — 
a  period  of  great  activity  on  the  part  of  speculating  land  com- 
panies—  there  remained  no  provision  for  the  sale  of  land  in  small 
quantities,  and  only  after  1796  could  a  single  section  of  640  acres 
be  disposed  of  to  a  purchaser.  Even  this  modification  did  not 
open  the  public  domain  to  the  would-be  land-holder  who  was 
poor.  In  1709  William  Henry  Harrison,  who  had  been  Secretary 
of  the  Northwest  Territory  under  the  governorship  of  General 
St.  Gair.  was  elected  by  the  general  assembly  of  the  Territory 
to  the  office  of  delegate  to  Congress.  Being  appointed  chairman 
of  the  House  committee  on  public  lands,  Harrison  gave  his  atten- 
tion to  drafting  and  securing  the  passage  of  an  act  authorizing  the 
sale  of  public  land  in  half-sections,  or  tracts  of  320  acres.  By  this 
act  (1800)  it  was  further  provided  that  only  one- fourth  of  the 
purchase  price  need  be  paid  down,  while  for  the  rest  credit  of 
two,  three  and  four  years  was  to  be  given.  This  act  was  prop- 
erly regarded  as  a  great  public  boon,  for  its  tendency  was  to  open 
the  public  domain  to  the  worthy  but  poor  emigrant  —  to  give  farms 
to  the  many  instead  of  plantations  to  the  few.  The  process  of 
paring  down  the  saleable  units  went  on  in  after  years,  until  in  our 
own  day  it  has  been  possible  to  gain  a  title  to  as  small  an  area  as  forty 
acres.  The  method  by  which  public  land  was  divided  and  sold 
in  the  period  in  which  Fordham  wrote  is  described  with  admirable 
clearness  by  Flint,  in  his  Letters  from  America,  as  follows :  "  In 
the  public  land-offices,  maps  of  the  new  lands  are  kept.  Sections 
of  a  square  mile,  and  quarter  sections  of  160  acres,  are  laid  down. 
The  squares  entered  are  marked  A.  P.  meaning  advance  paid.  This 
advance  is  half  a  dollar  per  acre,  or  one-fourth  of  the  price. 
Lands,  when  first  put  to  sale,  are  offered  by  public  auction,  and 
are  set  up  at  two  dollars  per  acre.  If  no  one  offers  that  price, 
they  are  exhibited  on  the  land-office  map,  and  may  be  sold  at 
that  rate  at  any  subsequent  time.  Besides  the  land-offices  for 
the  sale  of  national  property,  there  are  agents  who  sell  on  ac- 
count of  individuals.  I  can  mention  Mr.  Embree,  of  Cincinnati, 
as  a  gentleman  who  does  much  business  in  this  way,  and  with 


Indiana  103 

chance,  however,  in  this  latter  plan,  for  there  is  a 
district  as  large  as  all  England  to  be  picked  over 
now.  Mr.  and  I  have  a  great  fancy  to  look 

much  reputation  to  himself.  Lands  entered  at  the  public  sales, 
or  at  the  Register's  office,  are  payable,  one  fourth  part  of  the 
price  at  the  time  of  purchase;  one  fourth  at  the  expiry  of  two 
years;  one  fourth  at  three  years,  and  the  remaining  fourth  at 
four  years.  By  law,  lands  not  fully  paid  at  the  end  of  five  years, 
are  forfeited  to  the  government,  but  examples  are  not  wanting 
of  States  petitioning  Congress  for  indulgence  on  this  point,  and 
obtaining  it.  For  money  paid  in  advance  at  the  land  office  a  dis- 
count of  eight  per  cent,  per  annum  is  allowed,  till  instalments  to 
the  amount  of  the  payment  become  due.  For  failures  in  the 
payment  of  instalments,  interest  at  six  per  cent,  is  taken  till  paid. 
The  most  skilful  speculators  usually  pay  only  a  fourth  part  of  the 
price  at  entry,  conceiving  that  they  can  derive  a  much  greater 
profit  than  eight  per  cent,  per  annum  from  the  increasing  value 
of  property,  and  occasionally  from  renting  it  out  to  others.  Where 
judicious  selections  are  made,  they  calculate  rightly.  The  land 
system  now  adopted  in  the  United  States  is  admirable  in  regard 
to  ingenuity,  simplicity,  and  liberality.  A  slight  attention  to 
the  map  of  the  district,  will  enable  any  one  to  know  at  once  the 
relative  situation  of  any  section  that  he  may  afterwards  hear 
mentioned,  and  its  direct  distance  in  measured  miles.  There  can 
be  no  necessity  for  giving  names  to  farms  or  estates,  as  the 
designation  of  the  particular  township,  and  the  number  of  the 
section  is  sufficient,  and  has,  besides,  the  singular  convenience  of 
conveying  accurate  information  as  to  where  it  is  situated.  By 
the  new  arrangement  the  boundaries  of  possessions  are  most 
securely  fixed,  and  freed  alike  from  the  inconvenience  of  rivers 
changing  their  course,  and  complexity  of  curved  lines.  Litigation 
amongst  neighbors  as  to  their  landmarks,  is  in  a  great  measure 
excluded.  The  title  deed  is  printed  on  a  piece  of  parchment  of 
the  quarto  size.  The  date,  the  locality  of  the  purchase,  and  the 
purchaser's  name,  are  inserted  in  writing,  and  the  instrument  is 
subscribed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the  agent 
of  the  general  land  office.  It  is  delivered  to  the  buyer  free  of  all 
expense,  and  may  be  transferred  by  him  to  another  person  without 
using  stamped  paper,  and  without  the  intervention  of  a  law  prac- 
titioner. The  business  of  the  land  office  proceeds  on  the  most 
moderate  principles,  and  with  the  strictest  regard  to  justice.  The 
proceeds  are  applied  in  defraying  the  expense  of  government, 
and  form  a  resource  against  taxation.  The  public  lands  are  In 
reality  the  property  of  the  people.  The  stranger  who  would  go 
into  the  woods  to  make  a  selection  of  lands,  ought  to  take  with 
him  an  extract  from  the  land  office  map  applying  to  the  part  of 
the  country  he  intends  to  visit.  Without  this,  he  cannot  well 
distinguish  entered  from  unentered  grounds.  He  should  also 
procure  the  names  of  the  resident  people,  with  the  numbers  and 
quarters  of  the  sections  they  live  on,  not  neglecting  to  carry 


IO4  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

at  the  Western  side  of  the  Illinois  territory;  and 

since  he  and  Mr.  B have  left  me  here,  I  have 

received  an  account  of  a  tract  of  land  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Mississippi,  reaching  from  Kaskaskia1 
nearly  to  S*.  Louis.  It  is  called  the  American  bot- 
tom, and  consists  of  rich  Alluvium  from  8  to  40 
feet  deep.  There  is  a  farm  to  be  sold  there  of  1400 

with  him  a  pocket-compass,  to  enable  him  to  follow  the  blazed 
lines  marked  out  by  the  surveyor.  Blase  is  a  word  signifying 
a  mark  cut  by  a  hatchet  on  the  bark  of  a  tree.  It  is  the  more 
necessary  for  the  explorer  to  be  furnished  thus,  as  he  may  expect 
to  meet  with  settlers  who  will  not  be  willing  to  direct  him,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  tell  him  with  the  greatest  effrontery,  that  every 
neighbouring  quarter  section  is  already  taken  up.  Squatters,  a  class 
of  men  who  take  possession  without  purchasing,  are  afraid  of 
being  turned  out,  or  of  having  their  pastures  abridged  by  new 
comers.  Others,  perhaps  meditating  an  enlargement  of  their  prop- 
erty, so  soon  as  funds  will  permit,  wish  to  hold  the  adjoining  lands 
in  reserve  for  themselves,  and  not  a  few  are  jealous  of  the  land- 
dealer,  who  is  not  an  actual  settler,  whose  grounds  lie  waste, 
waiting  for  that  advance  on  the  value  of  property,  which  arises 
from  an  increasing  population.  The  non-resident  proprietor  is 
injurious  to  a  neighbourhood,  in  respect  of  his  not  bearing  any  part 
of  the  expense  of  making  roads,  while  other  people  are  frequently 
under  the  necessity  of  making  them  through  his  lands  for  their 
own  convenience.  On  excursions  of  this  kind,  the  prudent  will 
always  be  cautious  of  explaining  their  views,  particularly  as  to  the 
spot  chosen  for  purchase  and  without  loss  of  time  they  should  re- 
turn to  the  land-office  and  make  entry"  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  ix,  pp.  175-181).  Woods  (Two  Years'  Residence"),  in 
1820,  has  a  good  account,  similar  to  Flint's  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  x,  pp.  33O-334)- 

1  Kaskaskia  was  situated  on  the  awf  bank  of  the  Kaskaskia 
River,  four  miles  east  of  the  Mississippi.  It  was  about  150  miles 
distant  from  Vincennes.  The  town  owed  its  origin  to  the  migra- 
tion of  French  traders  and  missionaries  thither  about  1700,  in- 
duced by  the  removal  of  the  Kaskaskia  tribe  of  Indians  to  the 
region  at  that  time.  It  continued  a  straggling  settlement  of 
courerrs  des  bois  and  Indians  until  taken  possession  of  by  the 
English  in  1765.  In  1772,  after  the  abandonment  of  Fort  Chartres, 
Kaskaskia  became  the  "  capital "  of  the  Illinois  country.  In  1778 
it  was  captured  from  the  English  by  George  Rogers  Clark  during 
the  course  of  his  notable  campaigns  in  the  West.  It  remained 
the  capital  of  Illinois  until  1821.  when  it  was  succeeded  in  that 
dignity  by  the  wilderness  town  of  Vandalia.  The  village  was  all 
but  ruined  by  a  flood  in  1844,  and  in  1847  it  ceased  even  to  be  the 
seat  of  Randolph  County. 


Indiana  105 

acres,  with  house  and  buildings,  for  5$  pr.  acre;  the 
land,  half  prairie,  half  wood,  and  all  richer  than 
your  tame,  English,  imagination  can  conceive;  at 
least,  if  it  be  equal  to  the  descriptions  I  have  of  it.1 

The  wave  of  Emigration  has  already  reached  200 
miles  up  the  Missouri.  It  is  this  thirst,  this  rapa- 
cious desire,  to  obtain  the  very  best  land,  that  keeps 
Indiana  so  thinly  inhabited. 

If  the  whole  population  of  England  were  planted 
in  Indiana  and  Illinois,  there  would  be  good  land 
enough  in  the  state  and  territory  to  make  every 
man  an  independent  farmer. 

Were  the  choice  left  to  me,  I  would  settle  on 
the  Ohio  banks  below  the  falls,2  or  on  the  Missis- 

1The  American  Bottom  lay  between  a  range  of  hills  and  the 
Mississippi,  extending  from  the  Kaskaskia  on  the  south  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Missouri  on  the  north.  Its  length  was  about  100 
miles  and  its  area  something  like  320,000  acres,  embracing  present 
Monroe  and  St.  Clair  counties,  with  parts  of  Randolph  and  Mad- 
ison. It  is  the  most  extended  unbroken  stretch  of  fertile  prairie 
in  Illinois  and  had  the  reputation  in  the  early  nineteenth  century 
of  being  the  richest  agricultural  land  in  the  United  States.  It 
contained  the  first  white  settlements  in  Illinois  —  the  French  posts 
of  Kaskaskia,  Cahokia,  and  Prairie  du  Rocher.  Its  name  was 
given  it  when  it  constituted  the  western  boundary  of  the  United 
States,  before  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana. 

2The  "  falls "  of  the  Ohio  comprise  a  stretch  of  rapids  between 
Louisville  and  the  present  suburb  Shippingport,  two  and  a  half 
miles  down  stream.  A  ledge  of  rocks  extending  across  the  river 
produces  in  this  distance  a  descent  of  about  twenty-five  feet,  ren- 
dering steam-boat  navigation  impossible  except  at  high  water  and 
the  passage  of  other  craft  more  or  less  hazardous  at  all  times. 
Until  a  canal  was  completed  around  the  falls  in  1830  it  was  gen- 
erally necessary  for  the  cargoes  of  all  boats  to  be  unloaded  at  one 
end,  transported  by  land  to  the  other  end,  and  there  reloaded 
for  the  remainder  of  the  voyage.  The  local  employment  thus 
afforded  laborers,  and  the  desirability  of  distributing  goods  thence 
as  far  as  possible  without  a  second  loading  on  the  river  craft,  in- 
evitably gave  rise  to  a  town,  which  in  time  grew  into  the  city  of 
Louisville.  The  Ohio  Falls  were  noted  and  described  by  nearly 
every  traveller  in  the  West,  beginning  with  Croghan  in  1765. 


io6  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

sippi,  —  that  "father  of  waters,"  as  the  Indians  call 
it,  below  its  junction  with  the  Missouri;  because 
that  great  river  must  be  as  much  the  high  road  of 
Commerce  as  Main  Street  is  in  Philadelphia,  or 
Cheapside  in  London.  Every  kind  of  produce  is 
sent  to  New  Orleans  in  the  cheapest  way  —  to 
Europe  if  you  please,  or  to  the  West  Indies,  for  Sea 
vessels  are  often  built  on  the  river,  but  flat  boats  are 
the  usual  conveyances.  For  the  conveyance  of 
goods  up  the  river,  keel  boats  are  used  which  are 
impelled  by  sails,  oars  and  poles.  Steam  boats  are 
now  beginning  to  supersede  their  use,  and  one  of 
400  tons  burden  has  made  several  trips.1 


Melish,  in  1811,  has  a  good  account,  accompanied  by  an  excellent 
map  of  the  vicinity,  in  his  Travels,  ii,  pp.  149-152.  Descriptions 
by  Nuttall  (Journal)  in  1818,  EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xiii,  p. 
66;  Hulme  (Journal)  in  1818,  EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  p.  43; 
and  Woods  (Two  Years'  Residence)  in  1820,  EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  x,  pp.  242-243,  are  of  value.  H.  McMurtrie's  Sketches  of 
Louisville  and  its  Environs  (Louisville,  1819)  contains  a  good  de- 
scription and  map.  The  long-discussed  project  of  constructing  a 
canal  around  the  falls  was  revived  in  1804  and  in  that  year  a  com- 
pany to  undertake  the  work  was  incorporated  by  the  legislature  of 
Kentucky.  Owing,  however,  to  the  indifference  of  Louisville  (whose 
prosperity  was  thought  to  depend  largely  on  the  continuance  of 
the  rehandling  of  goods  occasioned  by  the  lack  of  a  canal)  and 
other  causes,  nothing  further  was  done  until  1825.  In  that  year 
a  new  organization,  the  Louisville  and  Portland  Canal  Company, 
was  chartered,  with  a  capital  of  $600,000.  It  was  this  company 
which,  during  the  next  five  years,  pushed  the  project  to  comple- 
tion. The  canal  was  enlarged  in  1872,  and  in  1874,  by  act  of 
Congress,  it  passed  under  the  control  of  the  United  States. 

lThe  first  steamboat  to  appear  on  the  Ohio  was  the  New  Or- 
leans (built  by  Nicholas  J.  Roosevelt  in  1810)  which  in  1811  de- 
scended to  the  city  from  which  she  took  her  name.  In  1815  the 
Aetna  led  the  way  in  stemming  the  current  from  New  Orleans  to 
Louisville.  Thereafter  steamboat  navigation  on  the  Ohio  and  the 
Mississippi  developed  steadily  —  to  such  a  degree,  in  fact,  that 
within  a  few  years  Wheeling,  Marietta,  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  and 
Louisville  came  to  number  shipbuilding  among  their  most  im- 
portant industries.  In  1818  fourteen  steamers  were  built  in  these 


Indiana  107 

Again  —  the  Mississippi  banks  below  the  Ohio 
mouth  are  universally  unhealthy,  generally  unin- 
habitable, from  the  overflowing  of  the  River  and 
the  many  Bayous  which  form  inland  swamps  of 
great  extent.  The  perpendicular  rise  of  the  river 
water  is  sometimes  200  feet,  at  such  times  the 
whole  valley  of  the  Mississippi  below  the  Ohio  is 
overflowed.  Now  this  is  not  the  case  above  the 
Ohio.  The  Bluffs  of  Kaskaskia  are  always  safe. 
How  valuable  then  must  land  be  in  such  situations 
in  a  few  years,  when  the  population  above,  and  the 
trade  below,  have  increased,  so  that  towns,  like  Cin- 
cinnati and  Pittsburg,  shall  be  built  on  convenient 
landing  places. — The  finest  land  in  the  world,  on 
the  banks  of  the  greatest  river,  with  the  market  at 
your  gate. 

The  Wabash1  is  300  yards  wide,  and  rolls  its 

cities,  and  in  1819,  twenty-three.  Estwick  Evans,  in  his  Pedestrious 
Tour  in  1819  writes :  "  In  speaking  of  large  vessels  on  the  Ohio, 
I  may  add  that  ships  of  large  tonnage  have  been  built  on  this 
river,  laden  for  the  West  Indies,  and  there  sold,  both  vessel  and 
cargo.  A  person  in  Europe,  unacquainted  with  the  geography  of 
our  western  waters,  would  be  astonished  to  see,  in  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  a  large  vessel,  freighted  with  country  produce,  which  was 
built  and  laden  at  Pittsburg,  between  two  and  three  thousand 
miles  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico"  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  viii, 
p.  269).  Faux  (Memorable  Days)  gives  some  valuable  information 
(EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xi,  p.  198).  A  list  of  steamboats  em- 
ployed on  western  rivers  between  1812  and  1819  may  be  found  in 
H.  McMurtrie's  Sketches  of  Louisville  and  its  Environs  (Louis- 
ville, 1819),  pp.  200-204. 

*The  Wabash,  or  Ouabache  as  they  called  it,  was  regarded  by 
the  French  in  early  times  as  a  very  valuable  highway  between 
Canada  and  Louisiana.  Croghan,  in  1765,  wrote  that  "its  course 
runs  through  one  of  the  finest  countries  in  the  world,  the  lands 
being  exceedingly  rich  and  well-watered"  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  i,  p.  137)-  The  river  is  about  400  miles  in  length.  There 
is  a  description  of  it,  almost  contemporary  with  Fordham's,  in 
Lewis  C.  Beck's  Gazetteer  of  the  States  of  Illinois  and  Missouri 
(Albany,  New  York,  1823),  pp.  16-17. 


io8  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

warm,  transparent,  waters  over  a  bed  of  sand  and 
gravel.  It  is  navigable  for  keels  nine  and  for  bat- 
teaux  and  flats  twelve  months  in  the  year.  It  inter- 
locks with  the  head  waters  of  the  Great  Miami  of 
the  Lakes.  Its  Eastern  fork,  the  Missisipany,  rises 
in  rich  low  ground,  and  so  near  to  the  springs  of 
St.  Mary's,  which  is  the  principal  branch  of  the 
Miami  of  the  lakes,  that  when  the  waters  are  high, 
boats  pass  over  the  intervening  land.1  Congress  has 
voted  a  piece  of  land  to  raise  funds  for  making  a 
Canal  here,  which  will  connect  the  Lakes,  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  the  Northern  Ocean  with  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  There  is  some 
fine  land  on  the  Wabash,  both  above  and  below  St. 
Vincennes. 

Princetown,  where  we  now  reside,  is  situated 
about  ten  miles  from  the  Wabash,  12  from  the 
White  River,  28  from  the  Ohio,  and  30  South  of 
Vincennes.  It  stands  on  a  range  of  hills  in  the 
midst  of  wood^.  It  was  laid  out  3  years  ago,  but 
one  cabin  stood  here  1 1  years  ago.  There  are  three 
small  brick,  four  or  five  frame,  and  seven  or  eight 
log,  houses,  and  about  a  dozen  cabins  in  the  town. 
The  stumps  of  the  trees  have  not  yet  had  time  to 
rot  away  in  the  streets,  which  are  therefore  dan- 
gerous to  walk  in  after  dark.  We  have  hired  a 
small  frame  house,  with  a  log  kitchen  &c,  adjoin- 
ing a  good  garden  and  stable. 


!The  sources  of  the  eastern  fork  of  the  Wabash  and  of  the 
St.  Mary's  are  in  the  vicinity  of  the  present  town  of  Selina,  Ohio. 
By  the  Miami  of  the  Lakes  is  meant  the  Maumee. 


Indiana  109 

The  woods  around  us  are  inhabited  by  Indians, 
bears,  wolves,  deer,  opossums  and  racoons.  We 
hear  the  howling  of  the  wolves  every  evening,  as 
they  are  driven  back  from  the  farmyards  by  the 
dogs,  who  flock  together  to  repel  the  invaders. 

In  looking  in  the  maps,  I  find  I  am  wrong  in 
saying,  that  the  Indians  inhabit  the  neighborhood. 
Their  boundary  line  is  thirty  miles  hence,  but  they 
often  hunt  here. 

August  jd.  ii  at  night.  I  delayed  finishing  this 

letter,  because  returned  two  days  ago,  and 

Mr.  B this  evening.  I  am  going  off  tomorrow 

by  sunrise  to  the  Illinois  territory,  to  explore  the 

Little  Wabash  for  a  mill  seat G will  go 

part  of  the  way  with  me. 

I  am  informed  that  the  Illinois  is  a  most  beauti- 
ful country;  —  quite  unsettled  in  the  interior,  with 
no  accommodations  for  travellers  but  such  as  the 
cabins  of  the  hunter  afford.  In  my  next  letter  I 
hope  I  shall  be  able  to  give  you  some  important  in- 
formation. 

.  .  .  I  wish  you  could  see  your  brother  mount 
his  horse  to  morrow  morning.  I  will  give  you  a 
sketch.  A  broad  brimmed  straw  hat,  —  long  trous- 
ers and  moccasins,  —  shot  pouch  and  powder  horn 
slung  from  a  belt,  —  rifle  at  his  back,  in  a  sling,  — 
tomohawk  in  a  holster  at  his  saddle  bow,  —  a  pair 
of  saddle  bags  stuffed  with  shirts  and  gingerbread, 
made  by  an  old  friend  of  yours,  —  Boat  cloak  and 
Scotch  tent  buckled  behind  the  saddle.  .  .  . 
Good  bye. 


no  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

P.  S.    Tell and that  I  like  them  well 

enough  to  wish  them  here.  Bears  eat  neither  cows, 
hogs,  nor  sheep,  till  they  have  been  accustomed  to 
see  them  two  or  three  years;  by  that  time  they  are 
hunted  away. 


VII 

Physical  character  of  southern  Illinois  —  The  English  Prairie  — 
Three  lines  of  communication  with  the  Atlantic  —  Settlers  in 
and  about  the  English  Prairies  —  Rates  of  freightage  —  Cost 
of  travel  —  A  tabular  view  of  products  —  Fauna  of  the  region  — 
Salt  deposits  —  Cost  of  building  —  Advantages  of  the  back- 
woods settler  —  Profits  of  trade  —  Land  the  basis  of  wealth  — 
The  Mississippi  river  system  —  Slaves  and  bound  persons  — 
Classes  of  frontier  settlers  —  Character  of  the  backwoodsman  — 
Democratic  manners  —  Signs  of  progress  —  How  to  take  up 
land  —  Eastern  ignorance  of  the  West  —  The  climate — Size  of 
the  Illinois  Territory  —  Opportunities  for  capital  in  Illinois  — 
No  prejudice  against  liberal-minded  Englishmen. 

Shawanoe  town1  Illinois  Territory 
Noif.  15.  1817. 

I  AM  here  resting  from  a  journey  through  part 
of  the  Wabash  country,  and  I  gladly  seize  this 
opportunity  of  describing  it.  But  I  must  first  ex- 

1  Shawneetown,  so  named  because  of  the  identification  in  early 
times  of  the  Shawnee  Indians  with  its  locality,  was  laid  out  in 
1808.  It  is  situated  in  Gallatin  County,  Illinois,  twelve  miles 
north  of  the  junction  of  the  Saline  River  with  the  Ohio.  Cum- 
ing  tells  us  in  his  Sketches  that  already  before  the  end  of  1808 
the  town  comprised  twenty-four  cabins  and  was  a  place  of  consid- 
erable resort  on  account  of  the  salt-works  twelve  miles  distant  [see 
p.  120,  note]  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  p.  271).  Nuttall,  in  1818, 
called  the  place  a  mere  "  handful  of  log  cabins "  (EARLY  WEST- 
ERN TRAVELS,  xiii,  p.  71).  In  the  summer  of  the  same  year  Will- 
iam Tell  Harris  visited  it,  afterwards  writing  in  his  Remarks  (p. 
139)  :  "  From  the  situation  of  Shawneetown  its  inhabitants  might 
be  supposed  to  partake  of  the  nature  of  the  wild  duck,  for  every 
year  they  expect  to  be  driven,  by  the  waters,  to  their  upper  stories, 
as  land  high  enough  to  avoid  them  is  not  to  be  found  within  a 
mile  of  the  place;  the  consequent  unhealthiness  of  such  a  spot  is 
apparent  in  the  sallow  complexions  of  those  who  here  deprive 
themselves  of  many  comforts,  and  risk  both  health  and  life,  for  the 
sake  of  gain;  considerable  business  being  done  here,  as  it  is  on  the 
road  from  the  southern  States  to  St.  Louis,  and  the  Missouri,  and 
the  land  office  is  here."  This  land-office  was  for  the  southeast  dis- 
trict of  Illinois  and  had  been  established  only  a  few  months  before 
Harris  wrote.  Fearon,  in  his  Sketches  (p.  260),  says  the  town  had 
still  only  about  thirty  log  houses  when  he  visited  it  in  1817.  Its 
chief  importance  lay  in  its  situation  respecting  the  chief  routes 
of  trade,  especially  down  the  Ohio  and  from  south  central  Illinois. 


112  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

press  my  regret  that  I  have  not  yet  received  a  let- 
ter from  old  England.     .     .     . 

That  part  of  the  Illinois  Territory1  which  lies 
between  the  great  and  little  Wabash  rivers  and 
south  of  the  latter  to  the  Ohio,  is  about  as  hilly  as 
Hertfordshire.  It  is  intersected  with  a  vast  num- 
ber of  streams  or  creeks,  and  interspersed  with 
prairies  or  natural  meadows,  containing  from  1,000 
to  100,000  acres.  They  are  very  irregular  in  figure, 
and  are  dotted  and  clumped  with  trees,  like  Eng- 
lish parks.  Some  of  the  smallest  are  low,  flat,  and 
swampy,  but  the  greatest  part  are  high,  dry,  and 
rolling.  The  soil  of  the  latter  is  generally  light, 
and  very  rich ;  consisting  of  a  due  mixture  of  vege- 
table mould,  sand,  and  clay  lying  on  sand  rock. 


1The  stages  in  the  political  evolution  of  the  Illinois  Territory 
may  be  indicated  briefly.  December  12,  1778,  after  the  conquest 
by  George  Rogers  Clark,  the  legislature  of  Virginia  constituted 
what  was  known  as  the  County  of  Illinois.  In  1784  the  region 
was  ceded  to  the  nation  by  Virginia,  and  it  then  became  a  part  of 
the  Northwest  Territory,  definitely  organized  in  1787.  By  act  of 
May  7,  1800,  Congress  divided  the  Northwest  Territory,  giving 
the  name  Indiana  to  all  west  of  a  line  beginning  on  the  Ohio  op- 
posite the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky  River  and  continuing  through 
Fort  Recovery  to  the  northern  limits  of  the  United  States  [see 
p.  101,  note].  As  the  population  of  the  Illinois  country  grew,  a  strong 
demand  was  made  for  a  separate  territorial  organization.  The 
result  was  that  by  act  of  February  23,  1809,  the  Territory  of 
Illinois  was  set  aside  from  Indiana,  with  boundaries  the  same  as 
those  of  the  present  state,  except  that  they  extended  northward 
to  Canada.  Ninian  Edwards  was  appointed  first  governor,  and 
Kaskaskia  was  made  the  capital.  [For  admission  to  statehood  see 
p.  174,  note  2.]  On  the  early  history  of  Illinois  the  following  works 
will  be  found  useful :  John  Reynolds,  The  Pioneer  History  of 
Illinois  (Chicago,  1887)  ;  Henry  Brown,  History  of  Illinois  from 
its  first  Discovery  and  Settlement  (New  York,  1844) ;  Ninian 
W.  Edwards,  History  of  Illinois  from  1777  to  1783;  and  Life  and 
Times  of  Ninian  Edwards  (Springfield,  1870)  ;  Alexander  David- 
son and  Bernard  Stuve,  Complete  History  of  Illinois  from  1673 
to  1873  (Springfield,  1874)  ;  and  John  Moses,  Illinois,  Historical 
and  Statistical  (Chicago,  1889). 


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ENGLISH    PRAIRIE 


Every  square  is  one  mile,  and  contains  640  acres.  Thirty-six  miles 
form  a  township.  The  squares  are  called  sections  and  are  sold  entire  or  in 
quarters,  price  2$  in  four  annual  installments.  Discount  for  cash  6 
pr  cent. 


The  Illinois  Territory  115 

Limestone  has  been  found  in  the  Piankeshaw  vil- 
lage prairie,1  which  is  divided  from  the  Boltonhouse2 
or  English  Prairie  by  only  two  miles  of  timbered 
land.  On  the  English  Prairie  very  excellent  brick 
earth  has  been  found  by  Mr.  Birkbeck. 

The  English  Prairie3  lies  in  Latitude  38°  30' 
North,  and  Longitude  88°  west  of  London.  It  is 
4^/2  miles  long  and  4  miles  wide.  It  is  high  on  the 
North  and  East  sides  and  has  some  beautiful  situ- 
ations for  houses.  A  creek  runs  through  it,  and 
there  are  a  dozen  branches  which  are  filled  by  every 
shower  of  rain. 

Mr.  Birkbeck's4  house  will  be  on  the  spot  marked 

*A  district  west  from  Vincennes  which  took  its  name  from 
the  Piankeshaw  Indians,  a  branch  of  the  Miamis,  who  had  in- 
habited it  when  it  first  became  known  to  the  whites. 

2  "  The  English  prairie  was  first  called  Boltinghouse  prairie,  from 
a  young  man  of  that  name,  who  was  killed  by  the  Indians  a  few 
years  ago."  John  Woods,  Two  Years'  Residence  (EARLY  WEST- 
ERN TRAVELS,  x,  p.  270). 

3For  Birkbeck's  description  of  this  prairie  —  the  special  field  of  his 
colonizing  operations  —  see  his  Notes,  pp.  129-131.  It  lay  almost  due 
north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Wabash,  about  forty-five  miles 
from  its  shipping  port,  Shawneetown. 

4For  facts  regarding  Birkbeck  and  his  Illinois  settlement  see 
Introduction,  p.  23  et  seq.  A  full  account  may  be  found  in  George 
Flower's  History  of  the  English  Settlement  in  Edwards  County, 
Illinois  (Chicago,  1882),  edited  by  Elihu  B.  Washburne,  as  Vol- 
ume I  of  the  Chicago  Historical  Society's  Collections.  Con- 
temporary descriptions  of  the  settlement  are  Woods,  Two  Years' 
Residence  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  p.  271)  ;  Welby,  Visit  to 
North  America  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xii,  p.  248,  ff.)  ;  William 
Tell  Harris,  Remarks,  pp.  137-139;  and  William  Faux,  Memorable 
Days  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xi,  p.  252,  ff.).  The  observations 
made  by  these  writers,  with  the  exception  of  Woods,  were  gener- 
ally unfavorable.  Adam  Hodgson,  in  his  Letters  from  North 
America  (London,  1824),  ii,  pp.  64-77,  gives  a  very  discouraging  re- 
port of  the  enterprise,  based,  however,  not  on  personal  knowledge, 
but  merely  on  the  complaints  of  discontented  settlers  who  were 
returning  East  from  the  Illinois  country.  A  fairly  useful  essay 
,  entitled  "  Morris  Birkbeck  and  his  Friends,"  by  Daniel  Barry,  has 
y  appeared  in  Publication  No.  9  of  the  Illinois  State  Historical 
Library  (Springfield,  1904),  pp.  259-273. 


1 1 6  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

+,  and  we  have  a  hunting  cabin  on  the  spot  marked 
o;  and  there  will  probably  be  a  range  of  cottages 
on  the  dotted  line 

The  little  Wabash,1  a  fine  mill  stream,  which  de- 
scends from  the  North  2  or  300  miles,  is  six  miles 
west  of  the  Prairie.  The  big  Wabash,  a  navigable 
river,  which  interlocks  with  the  Miami  of  the  Lakes, 
will  probably  be  connected  with  it  by  a  canal;  at 
present  the  portage  is  8  miles.  The  Indian  traders 
ascend  the  Wabash,  descend  the  Miami,  and  trav- 
erse Lake  Erie  in  30  days.  We  have  thus  at  our 
very  doors  3  lines  of  communication  with  the  At- 
lantic, chiefly,  or  entirely,  by  water.  Ist.  from 
Baltimore,  Pittsburg,  and  the  Ohio.  2d.  The  Wa- 
bash, the  Lakes,  and  the  S*.  Lawrence.  3d.  The 
Wabash,  the  Ohio,  and  the  Mississippi.  On  all 
these  rivers  there  are  large  commercial  towns. 

The  Steam  boats  descend  the  Ohio  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi so  rapidly  that  I  could  be  with  you  in  Hert- 
fordshire, via  New  Orleans,  in  two  months. 

The  spaces  on  the  map  contained  by  the  dark 
lines  are  Mr.  Birkbeck's  and  Mr.  Flower's  pur- 
chases.2 They  have  divided  them  by  a  meridian 


1The  Little  Wabash  rises  near  the  source  of  the  Kaskaskia,  in 
central  Illinois,  flows  southward,  and  empties  into  the  Great  Wa- 
bash in  Gallatin  County,  Illinois. 

2  For  facts  regarding  the  settlement  of  George  Flower  and  sub- 
sequently his  father  Richard,  in  Illinois,  see  Introduction,  pp. 
23-27.  The  best  account  of  the  whole  Birkbeck-Flower  enterprise 
is  the  younger  Flower's  History  of  the  English  SettleiMnt  in 
Edwards  County,  Illinois,  referred  to  in  note  4,  p.  115.  This  book 
was  written  during  the  author's  later  years,  when,  after  suffering 
financial  reverses,  he  was  living  with  his  children  in  southern 
Indiana  and  Illinois.  The  unfortunate  quarrel  which  alienated  the 


The  Illinois  Territory  117 

line  a.b.  Besides  this,  they  have  made  entry  of 
another  prairie,  near  the  little  Wabash.  The  dots 
are  entries  made  by  American  Back- woodsmen. 

All  but  six  have  been  made  since  August.  There 
were  none  at  that  time  in  the  Village  Prairie,  two 
miles  to  the  North  of  us :  there  are  now  15.  A  Mr. 
DePugh  made  an  entry  of  a  quarter  section  in  the 
Village  Prairie;  a  month  afterwards,  he  wished 
to  sell  in  order  to  purchase  close  to  our  settlement, 
and  he  has  been  bid  3^/2$  pr.  acre  for  his  land. 

Let  us  go  back  to  the  means  of  access  to  our 
settlement.  It  is  on  a  ridge  between  the  Great  and 
Little  Wabash ;  nearly  equi-distant  from  both.  The 
former  is  always  navigable;  the  latter  two  months 
in  the  year;  and  two  days  ago,  I  signed  a  petition 
to  the  Governor,  requesting  permission  and  au- 
thority to  form  a  Company,  for  the  purpose  of  ren- 
dering it  permanently  navigable. 

Mr.  Birkbeck's  and  Flower's  purchase  in  the 
Brushy  Prairie1  will  then  be  greatly  inhanced  in 
value,  —  for  it  lies  within  two  miles  of  it. 

The  present  rate  of  freightage  is  —  from  Shawnee 
to  Orleans  i$  per  hundred  Ibs. — back  4^2$ — to 
Pittsburg  3^2"$ — from  Pittsburg  i$ — from  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  37^  cents  —  from  Shawnee,  or  the 


Birkbeck  and  Flower  families  soon  after  the  settlement  was  estab- 
lished is  related  in  detail  in  Faux's  Memorable  Days  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xi,  p.  272,  ff.). 

!The  Brushy  Prairie  lay  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Little  Wabash 
(in  Wayne  County),  seven  miles  southwest  of  Albion  and  eleven 
east  of  Fairfield. 


Ii8  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

mouth  of  the  Wabash,  to  Carmi,1  on  the  little  Wa- 
bash,  20  miles  below  us,  37^2  cents  —  to  the  nearest 
point  of  the  Wabash  to  our  settlement  50  cents  — 
down  the  stream  to  Shawnee  5  cents  pr.  hundred 
Ibs  —  from  Vincennes  on  the  Wabash  to  the  Boon 
pas  2  —  5  cents. 

Passage  in  Stage  and  expenses  of  a  journey  from 
Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg  50$  —  Journey  down  the 
Ohio  900  miles  10  to  15$ — To  Orleans  30$  by 
Steamboat  and  back  again  up  the  Mississippi  90$ 
—  To  St.  Louis,  by  the  Steamboat,  20$ — by  land 
on  horseback  8$. 

The  Illinois  territory  produces  the  finest  crops  of 
corn  and  grain  of  any  country  in  the  world. 

I  will  give  you  a  rough  estimate  of  produce  per 
acre  and  value.8 

$  Cents 

Indian  Corn  —  50  to  80  bushels  .25   per  bush. 

Wheat  —  25  to  30 
Barley  —  say  32          ... 
Oats  —  50  .... 

Tobacco  — 12  to  15  hundred  Ibs. 
Cotton  for  domestic  manufacture 
Pork  —  fatted  in  the  woods 
Do.  —  corn-fed 


•75 

75 

•37% 

4.50  per  hundred  Ibs. 
40.00 
3-50 
4.00 


1  Carmi,  seat  of  White  County,  Illinois,  is  twenty  miles  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Little  Wabash. 

2The  Bonpas  is  a  small  stream  to  the  east  of  the  English  Prairie, 
flowing  southward  and  emptying  into  the  Great  Wabash  about 
forty-five  miles  below  Vincennes.  It  forms  the  present  eastern 
boundary  of  Edwards  County.  On  the  creek,  twelve  miles  distant 
from  Albion,  was  a  little  village  known  as  Bonpas  which  served 
as  a  "port"  for  the  English  settlement.  Commodities  were  car- 
ried back  and  forth  between  the  settlement  and  this  station  on 
horses  or  in  wagons.  The  waterway  from  Bonpas  to  Shawnee- 
town  was  about  sixty  miles  in  length. 

*A  table  of  prices,  wages,  etc.  in  Kentucky  at  about  the  same 
time  is  given  by  Flint  in  his  Letters  from  America  (EARLY  WEST- 
ERN TRAVELS,  ix,  pp.  139-140)  ;  one  for  Ohio  may  be  found  in  Hulme's 
Journal  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  pp.  74-75). 


The  Illinois  Territory 


119 


12.00  pr.  hundd.  Ibs. 
37-50    
.75  per  gallon. 
.50  with  board. 

ay 

i  25  !  witnout  board. 
60.00 

IOO.OO 

20.00 

t  the 

y  are 

in  I 

I2.OO 

6.00 
'ngland. 

Beef    .... 

Hides  . 

Maple  Sugar 

Honey         .     ,  . 

A  day's  work     . 

A  labourer's  board 

A  horse  and  man,  one  day 

Do.  with  a  plough 
A  good  horse     . 
A  handsome  saddle  horse 
A  Cow 
An  Ox 
A  Sow  with  Pigs 


In  the  Woods  there  are  great  quantities  of 
Grapes,  Walnuts,  Hickory  Nuts,  and  Parsimins; 
and,  in  low  river  bottoms,  Pocoons,  a  species  of  thin 
shelled  walnut,  and  little  pappaws.  Raspberries  and 
strawberries  grow  wild ;  as  do  also  hops  and  indigo. 
Hemp  and  flax  are  cultivated;  and  I  have  eaten  in 
these  wilds  as  fine  musk  and  water  Melons,  as  I 
have  in  France.1 

Game  is  as  plentiful  here  as  in  other  parts  of  the 
U.  S.  east  of  the  Mississippi.  Bears,  Deer,  Racoons, 
and  Beavers,  are  chiefly  valued  by  the  hunters. 
There  are  wolves,  a  very  few  panthers,  and  some 
elk  in  remote  situations;  Also  Turkeys,  Pheasants, 
American  Partridges,  prairie  Hens,  and  innumer- 
able Squirrels,  which  are  delicious  food.  The  rivers 
abound  with  fish,  some  species  of  which  weigh  up- 
wards of  100  Ibs.2 

There  are  many  Salt  ponds.    Those  at  the  Saline 

1 A  full  description  of  the  plant  life  of  the  Illinois  prairies  is 
given  in  Woods,  Two  Years'  Residence  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS, 
x,  pp.  292-309). 

2  The  fauna  of  the  Illinois  country  is  described  by  Woods,  Two 
Years'  Residence  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  pp.  281-292). 


I2O  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

river  near  Shawnee,1  yield  150,000  bushels  of  salt 
annually  at  75  Cents  per  bushel.  The  Wabash, 
White  River,  Ohio,  and  Illinois  rivers  have  coal 
banks.  I  cannot  enumerate  all  the  natural  produc- 
tions of  this  fine  country,  which  literally  flows  with 
milk  and  honey.  "Man  is  the  only  growth  that's 
wanted  here:"  and  that  want  will  soon  be  supplied. 
Every  log  Cabin  is  swarming  with  half-naked  chil- 
dren. Boys  of  1 8  build  huts,  marry,  and  raise  hogs 
and  children  at  about  the  same  expence. 

A  Cabin  of  rough  logs,  containing  2  rooms  costs 
50$  —  Ditto,  smoothed  by  the  axe  60$.  A  brick 
house  containing  4  rooms  12  feet  square  with  shin- 
gled roof  600$.  A  Kitchen  detached,  log  built  30$. 
Smoke  house  20$.  Stable  for  4  horses,  with  loft, 
35$.  Corn  house  30$.  Barn  100$.  Fencing  with 
split-rails  25  Cents  per  rod.  Ditching  in  the  Prai- 
ries 31%;  one  rail  and  stakes  to  do,  with  hedge 
planted,  perhaps,  12^/2  Cents  more. 

Farming  will  not,  perhaps,  pay  more  per  Cent 
here  than  it  does  in  England,  if  the  farmers  per- 
sonal labour  be  deducted.  There  is  an  obvious  rea- 
son for  this ;  although  we  are  here  1 500  miles  from 
the  sea,  yet  the  water  communication  is  so  expedi- 
tious and  cheap,  that  the  prices  in  West  Indian  and 


*The  salt-works  on  the  Saline  were  about  twelve  miles  from 
Shawneetown.  They  supplied  the  settlers  of  all  southern  Illinois 
and  a  large  portion  of  those  in  Indiana,  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  in 
the  territories  along  the  lower  Mississippi.  Woods  tells  us  that 
by  1820  they  produced  about  300,000  bushels  annually.  Prior  to 
1818  the  salt-works  were  held  as  a  government  reservation,  the 
surrounding  land  being  leased  to  the  operators.  When  Illinois  was 
admitted  to  the  Union  the  proprietorship  of  the  salt  fields  was 
given  over  to  the  new  commonwealth. 


The  Illinois  Territory  121 

European  Markets  affect  the  value  of  produce  here, 
so  wonderfully  and  beautifully  does  the  commerce 
undisturbed  by  war  connect  men  living  in  the  most 
distant  regions,  and  equalize  the  profits  of  produc- 
ing food. 

But,  still  the  advantage  is  greatly  in  favour  of 
the  back  settler  in  America :  His  table  is  profusely 
furnished ;  if  he  choose,  with  delicacies :  He  is  lord 
of  the  soil  he  cultivates :  His  land  tax,  on  first  rate 
land,  is  i  Cent  per  acre;  on  second  rate  ^  of  a 
Cent:  And  the  lowest  estimate  of  the  annual  rise 
of  the  value  of  his  Estate,  even  when  unimproved 
by  cultivation  and  building,  is  16  per  Cent  per 
annum  on  first  cost. 

Trade,  from  the  general  want  of  capital,  and 
other  causes  with  which  I  am  unacquainted,  is  ex- 
ceedingly profitable.  75  to  100  per  Cent  is  reck- 
oned a  good  profit;  50  per  cent  is  a  living  profit; 
25  pr.  cent,  will  not  keep  a  man  to  his  business,  he 
will  look  out  for  something  else.  A  Tanner  is  now 
in  the  room,  who  has  quitted  N.  York  and  a  busi- 
ness which  paid  him  30  pr.  Cent.  He  is  going  to 
St.  Louis  to  establish  himself  there  with  the  expec- 
tation of  getting  Cent  per  Cent. 

I  had  the  following  account  from  a  River  Trader 

Dr. 

A  boat  of  36  tons  burden 


from    Orleans   to    Louis- 
ville $ 
14  men    at    75$    .    .    .     1050 
— board    for   75    days     .      525 
— extra  pay  to  Steersman        75 
— wear    of    boat    .         .      100 


1750 


$ 

Freight  of  36  tons  at  90$    3240 
Deduct  expences     .     .     .     1750 

Clear  profit  remaining    .     1490 


122  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

Freighting-  down,  to  Orleans  will  pay  the  expence 
of  going,  and  leave  one  or  two  hundred  dollars 
overplus.  But  if,  besides  700  dollars,  the  price  of 
a  new  boat  completely  rigged,  the  owner  has  a  cap- 
ital of  1500  or  2000$,  he  may  make  the  Voyage 
down  pay  him  from  500  to  1500  dollars.  The  whole 
trip  is  completed  in  two  or  three  months.  Steam 
boats  pay  better  interest  still,  and  are  gradually 
increasing  in  number  and  perfection  of  machin- 
ery. .  .  . 

Moreover,  LAND  is  the  basis  of  wealth.  The 
possession  of  it  is  sure  to  enrich  the  purchaser,  if 
he  has  selected  it  with  any  judgment.  The  enhance- 
ment of  its  value  does  not  depend  on  contingent 
circumstances,  but  on  the  never  ceasing  and  pro- 
gressive increase  of  the  human  race.  We  are  here 
on  the  most  favorable  spot  for  buying  it;  we  have 
headed  the  tide  of  Emigration. 

My  friends  have  made  their  election  almost  be- 
fore a  civilized  being  had  set  his  foot  upon  this 
ground,  which  a  few  months  ago  was  traversed  only 
by  the  Savage  or  the  hunter.  From  the  contempla- 
tion of  an  entire  continent,  they  descended  to  the 
examination  of  limited  states.  With  minds  unbi- 
assed and  intensely  fixed  upon  its  object  they  have 
passed  by  every  district  that  offered  peculiar  ad- 
vantages, till  they  found  one  that  contained  an 
aggregate  of  all:  —  the  climate  of  Virginia,  —  the 
fertility  of  Ohio,  —  a  commercial  communication 
with  the  Ocean,  —  Prairies,  like  those  of  the  Mis- 


The  Illinois  Territory  123 

souri,  —  the  Minerals  from  the  North  and  East, — 
and  —  freedom  from  slavery. 

If  you  will  look  at  any  of  the  Maps  constructed 
since  the  Travels  of  Pike  or  Lewis  and  Clarke  have 
been  published,1  and  the  surveys  of  the  Land  Offices 
have  been  exhibited,  you  will  see  that  Rivers,  to 
which  the  Thames  is  but  an  insignificant  stream, 
are  from  the  North,  the  East,  and  the  West,  into 
the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  "the  father  of  waters." 
This  again  rolls  the  floods  of  half  a  Continent  into 


xThe    western    explorations  of    Zebulon  Pike,  and  of  Meriwether 
Lewis  and  William  Clark,  between  1804  and  1807,  had  their  origin 
in  the  desire  of  President  Jefferson  to  find  out  what  sort  of  coun- 
try it  was  that,  under  the  name  of  Louisiana,  had  recently  been 
purchased  from  Napoleon.     Pike  made  two  exploring  trips  of  im- 
portance.    The  first  was  undertaken  in  1805,  under  the  immediate 
direction   of   General   James    Wilkinson.     It   comprised   an   ascent 
of  the  Mississippi  from  St.  Louis  for  the  purpose  of  selecting  sites 
for  military  posts,  treating  with  the  northern  Indians,  and  ascer- 
taining whether  the  British   were   in  possession  of  any  places  on 
the    Canadian    frontier   properly   belonging   to   the   United    States. 
Cass  Lake,  at  the  mouth  of  Turtle  River,  was  the  limit  of  this 
expedition.     The  second  trip  was  longer  and  more  important.     It 
was  undertaken  in  1806  and  embraced  an  ascent  of  the  Missouri 
as  far  as  the  Osage,  an  overland  passage  through  Kansas  to  the 
Arkansas,   an  ascent  of  this   river  as   far  as   Leadville,   Colorado, 
and  a  capture  in  1807  by  Spanish  dragoons  on  the  Rip  Grande  del 
Norte,  which  afforded  an  unexpected  opportunity  to  view  the  lands 
and  peoples  of  the  Southwest.     The  first  record  of  Pike's  travels 
given  to  the  public  was  An  Account  of  Expeditions  to  the  Sources 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  through  the  Western  Parts  of  Louisiana,  to 
the  Sources  of  the  Arkansaw,  etc.   (Philadelphia,  1810).    The  book 
went  through  numerous  editions.    The  best  for  use  to-day  is  Elliott 
Coues    (editor),    The    Expeditions    of  Zebulon  Montgomery  Pike 
to  the  Headwaters  of  the  Mississippi  River,  through  Louisiana  Ter- 
ritory, and  in  New  Spain,  during  the  Years  1805-6-7  (New  York, 
1895).     It  appears  that  Jefferson  planned  some  such  expedition  as 
that  later  undertaken  by  Lewis  and  Clark  while  the  Louisiana  ter- 
ritory was  still  a  French  possession  and  in  the  hands  of  the  Span- 
iards.    After  June,    1803,   when   the   news  of  the   purchase  treaty 
reached  America,  preparations  which  had  been  begun  under  cover 
were  rapidly  pushed  to  completion.    Captain  Lewis,  a  Virginian  and 
the  President's  private  secretary,  was  designated  to  head  the  enter- 
prise, and  by  him  another  Virginian,  Captain  Clark,  was  selected 
as  chief  associate.    The  Lewis  and  Clark  party,  twenty-nine  in  num- 


124  Fordhams  Personal  Narrative 

a  Gulf,  which  seems  to  be  designed  by  Nature  to 
be  the  very  focus  of  Commerce  —  the  centre  of  the 
habitable  world. 

The  Illinois  territory  is  watered  by  five  of  the 
most  important  of  these  streams.  It  is  bounded  by 
no  tract  of  land  intended  by  Nature  to  be  a  desert. 
Northward  lies  one  inland  Sea,  and  North  East- 
ward, it  has  water  communication  with  another. 

The  ease  with  which  property  is  acquired  by  the 
industrious,  produces  an  equality  unknown  in  old 
Countries.  No  white  man  or  woman  will  bear  being 
called  a  servant,  but  they  will  gladly  do  your  work. 

ber,  spent  the  winter  of  1803-04  in  camp  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
souri; the  summer  and  autumn  of  1804  in  ascending  the  Missouri; 
the  winter  of  1804-05  in  a  stockade  among  the  Mandan  Indians 
in  North  Dakota;  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1805  in  pushing  on 
across  the  mountains  to  the  Pacific  coast;  the  winter  of  1805-06  in 
camp  at  Fort  Clatsop,  studying  the  country  and  its  resources ;  and 
the  summer  of  1806  in  effecting  the  return  journey  to  St.  Louis. 
The  explorers,  according  to  instructions,  kept  elaborate  journals, 
and  in  1807  one  of  these  —  that  of  Patrick  Gass  —  was  published.  In 
the  same  year  a  Philadelphia  house  put  out  a  prospectus  announc- 
ing the  forthcoming  publication  of  the  journals  kept  by  Lewis  and 
Clark.  Lewis,  however,  was  soon  made  governor  of  the  Louisiana 
Territory  and  Clark  was  appointed  superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs 
and  brigadier-general  of  militia  —  positions  which  involved  heavy 
duties  and  seriously  delayed  the  preparation  of  the  journals  for 
the  press.  In  1809  Lewis  took  up  the  work  afresh,  but  met  his 
death  before  getting  well  started.  Clark  then  secured  the  assist- 
ance of  an  editor  in  the  person  of  Nicholas  Biddle  of  Philadelphia 
and  the  manuscript  was  finally  prepared  —  only  to  be  rejected  as  a 
publishing  venture  by  every  one  to  whom  submitted  until  1813. 
The  work  was  finally  seen  through  the  press  by  a  Philadelphia 
newspaper  man  by  the  name  of  Paul  Allen.  The  Biddle-Allen  edi- 
tion of  the  journals  was  a  mere  paraphrase,  made  as  readable  as 
possible  by  the  omission  of  practically  all  of  the  scientific  data, 
which  in  fact  gave  the  writings  their  chief  claim  to  value.  For- 
tunately the  original  manuscripts  were  secured  by  Jefferson,  being 
placed  for  safe  keeping  in  the  archives  of  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society.  Due  to  the  enterprise  of  this  organization  we 
have  now  a  most  excellent  reprint  of  the  journals,  edited  by  Dr. 
R.  G.  Thwaites  under  the  title  Original  Journals  of  the  Lewis  and 
Clark  Expedition,  1804-1806  (New  York,  1904),  7  volumes  and 
Atlas. 


The  Illinois  Territory  125 

Your  hirelings  must  be  spoken  to  with  Civility  and 
cheerfulness.  Domestic  services,  perhaps,  will  be 
obtained  with  difficulty. 

Respectable  families  from  Kentucky,  who  do  not 
distinguish  between  a  Servant  and  a  Slave,  do  all 
their  domestic  work,  except  washing,  with  their 
own  hands;  others  indenture  negroes  for  10  or  15 
years;  but  having  been  accustomed  to  treat  their 
Slaves  with  severity,  they  generally  spoil  the  tem- 
pers of  their  bound  servants,  whom  they  have  not 
so  much  under  command. 

The  people  who  live  on  these  frontiers  may  be 
divided  into  four  classes,  —  not  perfectly  distinct 
yet  easily  distinguishable.1 

Ist.  The  hunters,  a  daring,  hardy,  race  of  men, 
who  live  in  miserable  cabins,  which  they  fortify  in 
times  of  War  with  the  Indians,  whom  they  hate  but 
much  resemble  in  dress  and  manners.  They  are 
unpolished,  but  hospitable,  kind  to  Strangers,  hon- 
est and  trustworthy.  They  raise  a  little  Indian 
corn,  pumpkins,  hogs,  and  sometimes  have  a  Cow 


1Fearon,  in  his  Sketches  of  America  (pp.  263-264)  says:  "The 
inhabitants  of  Illinois  may,  perhaps,  be  ranked  as  follows :  First, 
the  Indian  hunters,  who  are  neither  different  in  character  or  pur- 
suits from  their  ancestors  in  the  days  of  Columbus.  2nd,  The 
'  Squatters/  who  are  half-civilized  and  half-savage.  These  are,  in 
character  and  habits,  extremely  wretched :  indeed,  I  prefer  the 
genuine  uncontaminated  Indian.  3rd,  A  medley  of  land  jobbers, 
lawyers,  doctors,  and  farmers,  who  traverse  this  immense  continent, 
founding  settlements,  and  engaging  in  all  kinds  of  speculation. 
4th,  Some  old  French  settlers,  possessed  of  considerable  property, 
and  living  in  ease  and  comfort."  Another  attempt  to  classify  the 
population  of  the  West  will  be  found  in  Flint's  Letters  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  ix,  pp.  232-236).  Cuming,  Sketches  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  pp.  135-140)  and  Bradbury,  Travels  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  v,  pp.  281-287)  have  descriptions  of  value  for  a 
somewhat  earlier  period. 


ia6  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

or  two,  and  two  or  three  horses  belonging  to  each 
family:  But  their  rifle  is  their  principal  means  of 
support.  They  are  the  best  marksmen  in  the  world, 
and  such  is  their  dexterity  that  they  will  shoot  an 
apple  off  the  head  of  a  companion.  Some  few  use 
the  bow  and  arrow.  I  have  spent  7  or  8  weeks 
with  these  men,  have  had  opportunities  of  trying 
them,  and  believe  they  would  sooner  give  me  the 
last  shirt  off  their  backs,  than  rob  me  of  a  charge 
of  powder.  Their  wars  with  the  Indians  have  made 
them  vindictive.  This  class  cannot  be  called  first 
Settlers,  for  they  move  every  year  or  two. 

2d.  class.  First  settlers ;  —  a  mixed  set  of  hunters 
and  farmers.  They  possess  more  property  and  com- 
forts than  the  first  class;  yet  they  are  a  half  bar- 
barous race.  They  follow  the  range  pretty  much; 
selling  out  when  the  Country  begins  to  be  well  set- 
tled, and  their  cattle  cannot  be  entirely  kept  in  the 
woods. 

3d.  class.  —  is  composed  of  enterprising  men  from 
Kentucky  and  the  Atlantic  States.  This  class  con- 
sists of  Young  Doctors,  Lawyers,  Storekeepers, 
farmers,  mechanics  &c,  who  found  towns,  trade, 
speculate  in  land,  and  begin  the  fabric  of  Society. 
There  is  in  this  class  every  gradation  of  intellectual 
and  moral  character ;  but  the  general  tone  of  Social 
manners  is  yet  too  much  relaxed.  There  is  too  much 
reliance  upon  personal  prowess,  and  the  laws  have 
not  yet  acquired  sufficient  energy  to  prevent  vio- 
lence. 

Such  are  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Southern  parts  of 


The  Illinois  Territory  127 

Indiana,  and  of  Shawanoe  town,  St.  Louis,  St.  Gene- 
vieve,1 and  the  large  settlements  on  the  Mississippi. 

4th.  class— old  settlers,  rich,  independent,  farm- 
ers, wealthy  merchants,  possessing  a  good  deal  of 
information,  a  knowledge  of  the  world,  and  an 
enterprising  spirit.  Such  are  the  Ohio  men,  West- 
ern Pennsylvanians,  Kentuckians  and  Tenessee 
men.  The  young  men  have  a  military  taste,  and 
most  of  them  have  served  in  the  late  war.  They 
were  great  duellists,  but  now  the  laws  against  duel- 
ling are  more  strictly  enforced;  they  carry  dirks, 
and  sometimes  decide  a  dispute  on  the  spot.  Ir- 
ritable and  dissipated  in  youth,  yet  they  are  gener- 
ally steady  and  active  in  Manhood.  They  under- 
take with  facility,  and  carry  on  with  unconquerable 
ardour,  any  business  or  speculation  that  promises 
great  profit,  and  sustain  the  greatest  losses  with  a 
firmness  that  resembles  indifference. 

You  will  perceive  from  this  slight  sketch,  which 
I  have  made  as  impartially  as  I  am  able,  that  the 
Backwoods  men,  as  they  are  called  somewhat  con- 
temptuously by  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Atlantic 
States,  are  admirably  adapted  by  Nature  and  edu- 
cation for  the  scenes  they  live  and  act  in.  The 
prominent  feature  of  their  character  is  power.  The 
young  value  themselves  on  their  courage,  the  old 

1The  original  Ste.  Genevieve  was  situated  about  three  miles  south 
of  the  present  town  of  the  name,  in  Ste.  Genevieve  County,  Missouri. 
The  date  of  its  founding  is  uncertain ;  1732  is  not  improbable. 
In  1763,  when  the  Louisiana  territory  east  of  the  Mississippi  was 
transferred  by  France  to  England,  Ste.  Genevieve,  being  one  of  the 
two  French  towns  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  received 
a  considerable  influx  of  population  from  the  ceded  country.  But 
it  never  became  a  place  of  importance.. 


ia8  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

on  their  shrewdness.  The  veriest  villains  have 
something  grand  about  them.  They  expect  no 
mercy  and  they  shew  no  fear ;  "every  man's  hand  is 
against  them,  and  their  hand  is  against  every 
man's." 

As  social  Comforts  are  less  under  the  protection 
of  the  laws  here,  than  in  old  countries,  friendship 
and  good  neighbourhood  are  more  valued.  A  man 
of  good  character  is  an  acquisition;  not  that  there 
is  a  small  proportion  of  such  men,  but  because  the 
bad  are  as  undisguisedly  bad,  as  their  opposites  are 
professedly  good.  This  is  not  the  land  of  Hypoc- 
risy. It  would  not  here  have  its  reward.  Religion 
is  not  the  road  to  worldly  respectability,  nor  a  pos- 
session of  it  the  cloak  to  immorality. 

I  wish  I  could  give  you  a  correct  idea  of  the 
perfect  equality  that  exists  among  these  republi- 
cans. A  Judge  leaves  the  Court  house,  shakes 
hands  with  his  fellow  citizens  and  retires  to  his  log- 
house.  The  next  day  you  will  find  him  holding  his 
own  plough.  The  Lawyer  has  the  title  of  Captain, 
and  serves  in  his  Military  capacity  under  his  neigh- 
bour, who  is  a  farmer  and  a  Colonel.  The  shop 
keeper  sells  a  yard  of  tape,  and  sends  shiploads  of 
produce  to  Orleans ;  he  travels  2000  miles  in  a  year ; 
he  is  a  good  hunter,  and  has  been  a  soldier;  he 
dresses  and  talks  as  well  as  a  London  Merchant, 
and  probably  has  a  more  extensive  range  of  ideas; 
at  least  he  has  fewer  prejudices.  One  prejudice, 
however,  nothing  will  induce  him  to  give  up  —  he 
thinks  the  Americans  in  general,  and  particularly 


The  Illinois  Territory  129 

those  of  his  own  state,  are  the  best  soldiers  in  the 
world.  Such  is  the  native  Shopkeeper:  the  East- 
ern Emigrant  is  very  different. 

I  have  not  seen  an  effeminate,  or  a  feeble  man, 
in  mind  or  body,  belonging  to  these  Western  Coun- 
tries. The  most  ignorant,  compared  with  men  of 
the  same  standing  in  England,  are  well  informed. 
Their  manners  are  coarse;  but  they  have  amongst 
themselves  a  code  of  politeness,  which  they  gener- 
ally observe.  Drinking  whisky  is  the  greatest  pest, 
the  most  fertile  source  of  disorders,  amongst  them. 
When  intoxicated  by  it,  they  sometimes  fight  most 
furiously.  In  this  they  resemble  the  Lower  Irish. 

There  is  an  universal  spirit  of  enquiry  amongst 
all  classes  of  people.  In  the  state  of  Indiana,  in 
which  there  is  but  one  town  that  is  of  six  years 
standing,  there  are  several  Book-clubs.  News- 
papers and  Reviews  from  Philadelphia,  Baltimore, 
Kentucky,  and  S*.  Louis,  are  received  weekly. 
When  we  arrived  at  Princetown,  there  was  no  Post- 
office  nearer  than  Vincennes ;  now  we  have  the  Mail 
once  a  fortnight,  and  shall  soon  have  a  Western 
and  a  Southern  mail  every  week. 

Mr.  Birkbeck  was  known  here  by  his  writings, 
before  he  came  to  America.  His  tour  through 
France  has  been  read  at  S*.  Louis.1  His  settlement 

1  George  Flower,  in  his  History  of  the  English  Settlement  in  Ed- 
wards County,  Illinois  (p.  23),  tells  of  the  writing  of  this  book 
as  follows :  "After  the  downfall  of  Napoleon  the  First,  and  the 
peace  succeeding  to  a  twenty-years'  war,  Mr.  Birkbeck  invited  me 
to  accompany  him  in  a  journey  to  France,  to  which  I  readily 
acceded.  We  travelled  together  three  months  in  that  country,  avoid- 
ing the  usual  route  of  English  travel.  Passing  from  north  to  south, 
to  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  skirting  the  Pyrenees,  and  re- 


I3'O  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

has  already  attracted  the  attention  of  Land  Specu- 
lators and  Farmers.  W of  Philadelphia 

writes:  "I  have  directed  120  Germans  to  you;  they 
are  proceeding  toward  Ohio,  and  you  will  proba- 
bly receive  a  deputation  from  them." 

Mr.  J of  Philadelphia  wishes  to  send  a  num- 
ber of  families  to  our  neighbourhood.  I  met  him 
at  Cincinnati  in  September.  He  requested  me  to 
select  5,000  acres  for  him;  which  I  declined  to  do. 
He  wants  20,000  acres. 

I  think  of  entering  some  land  about  Sections  12 
and  13.  The  land  is  high,  soil  light,  and  tolerably 
rich.  Timber  —  good;  not  standing  thick,  but  pretty 
large;  it  is  black  oak,  hickory,  walnut,  with  some 
white  oak.  A  Stream  winds  through  a  narrow  val- 
ley between  the  hills,  and  the  house  if  placed  on 
the  mark  #  would  command  a  view  of  the  whole 
prairie,  and  have  a  southern  and  western  aspect. 

If  any  persons  in  England  would  like  to  possess 
a  small  stake  in  this  Country,  I  could  procure  it  for 
them  thus.  A.B.  in  England  advances  the  first  and 
second  installments  of  ^"2$  per  acre  per  annum.  I 
pay  the  third  and  fourth,  and  have  the  option  of 
holding  the  land  as  a  partner,  or  of  selling  it  by 
auction.  If  I  should  fail  in  making  my  payments, 
the  land  is  secured  to  us  for  five  years.  It  would 

turning  through  the  heart  of  the  country  by  a  more  easterly  route 
to  Paris,  we  saw  more  of  the  country  and  Frenchmen  at  home, 
than  we  otherwise  should,  if  confined  to  any  one  of  the  popular  routes 
of  travel.  .  .  .  On  our  return  Mr.  Birkbeck  published  his  'Notes 
of  a  Journey  through  France'  [London:  W.  Phillips,  1814].  It 
had  a  wide  circulation  in  England,  and  was  well  known  in  Amer- 
ica. It  was  the  first  book  I  met  with  at  Monticello,  the  residence  of 
Thomas  Jefferson." 


The  Illinois  Territory  131 

then  be  sold  by  the  U.  S.  and  the  overplus  of  2$ 
would  revert  to  the  original  purchasers.  To  a  share 
of  this  overplus  I  should  then  relinquish  all  claim, 
and  return  it  entire  to  my  partner  A.B.  But,  if 
I  pay  my  installments,  I  should  be  an  equal  sharer 
with  A.B.,  putting  my  knowledge  of  land  acquired 
by  travelling,  and  studying  the  subject  on  the  spot, 
and  also  my  trouble,  against  the  credit  of  I  dollar 

per  acre  for  two  years.  This  is  the  plan  Mr.  E 

acts  upon. 

Were  you  to  ask  me,  "Do  you  think  the  Illinois 
Territory  would  be  the  best  place  in  the  U.  S.  for 
me  to  emigrate  to,  supposing  that  I  could  with  pro- 
priety and  prudence  leave  England  ?"  I  should  hesi- 
tate in  giving  an  affirmative  to  this  question.  You 
want  the  society  that  is  to  be  found  near  old  estab- 
lished towns,  comforts  ready  made  to  your  hands. 
You  ought  to  enjoy  them  at  your  time  of  life.  Easy 
and  constant  intercourse  with  Europe,  a  quiet  and 
respectable  neighbourhood,  religious  institutions, 
and  access  to  large  libraries,  are  advantages  you 
would  probably  not  like  to  forego.  The  vicinity  of 
Philadelphia,  the  Jerseys,  many  parts  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  present  them  all  to  you. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Eastern  ports  know  no 
more  about  this  country,  than  you  do  in  England. 
Some  are  afraid  to  cross  the  Mountains:  so  many 
terrible  stories  of  it  are  in  circulation.  Kentucky, 
or  Bloody  Ground,  as  it  used  to  be  called,  seems 
to  them  to  be  the  verge  of  the  habitable  world. 
These  prejudices  are,  however,  disappearing.  The 


132  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

rising,  and  already  important,  commerce  of  the 
West  is  becoming  an  object  of  their  jealousy.  The 
poorer  and  more  enterprising  of  the  farmers  leave 
the  inhospitable  climates  of  the  North,  and  find  here 
fertile  lands  and  short  winters. 

The  hottest  weather  of  July  and  August  did  not 
injure  my  health;  yet  the  thermometer  was  fre- 
quently as  high  as  90,  generally  at  80  at  noon.  I 
enjoyed  that  weather  very  much.  This  Autumn 
more  rain  has  fallen  than  has  ever  been  remem- 
bered at  this  season  of  the  year.  It  has  at  length 
ceased,  and  we  have  now  fine  sunshiny  days  and 
slightly  frosty  nights.  Heavy  freezing,  I  am  told, 
sets  in  at  Christmas,  and  lasts  from  three  to  six 
weeks.  Then  the  snow  melts,  and  Spring  comes 
on  rapidly.  I  have  been  writing  all  day  with  the 
door  open  to  the  road,  and  this  is  the  24*.  day  of 
November. 

Farmers  are  now  gathering  their  Indian  corn, 
which  they  pick  from  the  stalks.  Their  wheat  was 
cut  in  June,  and  housed  in  July.  They  will  begin 
soon  to  kill  their  pork  for  the  Orleans  market. 

I  have  written  a  long  letter  of  heterogeneous  ob- 
servations just  as  they  have  arisen  in  my  mind. 
You  will  perceive  that  I  have  taken  care  to  state 
every  thing  exactly  as  the  impressions  I  have  felt 
were  left  upon  me.  So  rapid  is  improvement  in  this 
Country,  that  by  the  time  you  read  them,  circum- 
stances will  be  altered,  and  many  statements  will  be 
incorrect. 

I  must  add  a  word  or  two  more.     The  Illinois 


The  Illinois  Territory  133' 

Territory  has  but  a  small  proportion  of  Indian 
Lands.  In  this  it  has  greatly  the  advantage  of  In- 
diana, in  which  state  the  Indians  possess  two  thirds 
of  the  soil.1  So  that,  in  the  improbable  event  of 
another  war,  there  will  be  no  fighting  near  the  Eng- 
lish settlement.  We  shall  of  course  be  called  upon, 
and  be  ready,  I  hope,  to  defend  our  neighbours;  for 
here  every  man  is  a  soldier. 

Illinois  is  300  miles  long  and  200  broad;  it  con- 
tains 50,000  square  miles,  or  32  millions  of  acres. 
It  is  supposed  to  contain  30,000  inhabitants,  who 
are  scattered  about,  chiefly  on  the  banks  of  rivers. 

There  is  so  much  to  be  done  and  such  a  field  for 
exertion,  that  no  one  need  be  discouraged  from 


1  The  lands  comprising  the  present  state  of  Indiana  were  acquired 
from  the  Indians  by  means  of  a  long  series  of  treaties  and  agree- 
ments between  1795  and  1840.  By  the  treaty  of  Greenville,  nego- 
tiated by  General  Wayne  in  1795,  the  work  was  begun  by  the  ac- 
quisition of  large  tracts,  mainly  in  Ohio,  but  including  lands  in  the 
future  Indiana  Territory  on  the  Wabash  and  at  the  junction  of 
the  St.  Mary  and  St.  Joseph,  and  George  Rogers  Clark's  grant  on 
the  Ohio.  When,  in  1800,  William  Henry  Harrison  was  made 
governor  of  the  newly  organized  Territory,  he  was  invested  with 
general  powers  to  conclude  treaties  with  the  natives  relating  to  the 
proprietorship  of  lands.  In  this  work  he  was  active  and  success- 
ful. By  five  successive  treaties,  between  1802  and  1805,  he  acquired 
for  the  United  States  a  title  to  all  the  Indian  lands  along  the  Ohio 
River,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash  to  the  western  boundary  of 
the  state  of  Ohio.  In  1809,  by  the  treaty  of  Fort  Wayne,  he  se- 
cured the  cession  of  about  3,000,000  acres  on  the  Wabash  in  the 
region  of  present  Parke  County,  though  Tecumseh  arid  his  brother, 
the  Prophet,  refused  to  recognize  the  new  arrangement.  This  was 
the  status  when  Fordham  wrote,  in  1817.  Thereafter  a  prolonged 
series  of  cessions  was  arranged,  until  in  1840  the  last  Indian  title 
to  extensive  lands  within  the  bounds  of  the  state  was  extinguished. 
By  most  of  the  final  treaties  small  "  reservations  "  were  set  aside,  but 
these  have  now  generally  passed  out  of  Indian  possession.  A  few 
descendants  of  the  Miamis  still  live  in  Wabash  and  Miami  counties. 
For  an  elaborate  account  of  the  Indian  cessions  of  land  in  Indiana, 
with  an  excellent  map  illustrating  the  subject,  see  William  Henry 
Smith,  History  of  the  State  of  Indiana  (Indianapolis,  1897),  i, 
pp.  221-239. 


I3'4  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

coming  here,  by  the  fear  of  wanting  Markets  for 
produce,  or  for  his  labour.  A  capital  of  £50,000 
could  be  as  easil)r  employed  here  as  in  England, 
and  with  great  advantage  to  the  country  and  to 
the  capitalist.  This  is  not  a  random  guess :  I  could 
prove  it,  and  calculate  results.  A  man  may  fall  into 
poverty  here,  as  well  as  elsewhere;  but  the  propor- 
tion of  those  who  succeed  is  greater  here,  than  in 
any  place  I  have  ever  been  in.  Every  thing  and 
every  body  is  in  motion :  no  standing  still,  and  liv- 
ing upon  interest  of  capital :  but  every  man  has  his 
business  or  employment.  .  .  . 

P.  S.  Rough  and  democratic  as  these  back- 
woodsmen are,  they  shew  great  respect  to  talent, 
to  superior  knowledge,  to  age,  and  to  wealth.  There 
is  no  danger  to  an  European  who  possesses  these 
advantages,  of  being  jostled,  or  of  not  being  of 
consequence  among  his  neighbours.  The  respect 
that  is  shewn  to  Mr.  B.  is  even  more  marked  than 
that  he  commanded  in  England  from  his  labourers. 
Lord  Selkirk1  and  suite  were  at  Vincennes  the  other 


1  Thomas  Dundas,  fifth  earl  of  Selkirk,  was  born  in  Kirkcud- 
brightshire, Scotland,  in  1771.  He  was  educated  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh  and  in  1799  succeeded  to  the  title  and  property 
of  his  father.  His  life  was  devoted  largely  to  the  promotion  of 
emigration  to  British  America.  As  early  as  1802  he  put  forth  con- 
siderable effort  to  influence  the  British  Government  to  provide  for 
the  transportation  of  discontented  and  impoverished  Scottish  peas- 
ants to  the  New  World.  In  1811  he  secured  from  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company  a  large  tract  of  fertile  land  in  the  valleys  of  the  Assini- 
boin  and  Red  River  of  the  North,  where,  late  in  the  same  year, 
his  first  band  of  colonists  was  established.  Many  difficulties  were 
encountered,  arising  chiefly  from  the  opposition  of  the  Northwest 
traders  to  the  enterprise,  and  in  1816-17  the  settlement  was  broken 
up.  It  was  soon  restored,  however,  under  Selkirk's  personal  super- 
vision, and  the  conflict  was  transferred  to  the  courts,  where  the 
energetic  promoter  at  length  secured  judgment  in  favor  of  his 


The  Illinois  Territory 


day  at  a  dinner  and  ball,  and  received  the  most 
marked  attentions.  But  worth  and  talent,  without 
Rank,  will  command  respect.  Indeed,  no  rank  is 
known  here,  but  military  rank,  and  that  is  obtained 
by  tavern-keepers  and  farmers. 

English  Aristocrats  could  not  live  here.  But 
such  men  as  you  would  be  judges,  Magistrates,  and 
respected  Citizens. 


avowed  rights.  In  1816  Selkirk  published  A  Sketch  of  the  British 
Fur  Trade,  and  in  the  next  year  The  Red  River  Settlement.  He 
died  in  1820. 


VIII 

A  trip  down  the  Patoka  —  Winter  labors  and  amusements  —  Christ- 
mas—  Legislation  against  duelling  —  A  journey  to  Cincinnati  — 
Lack  of  scenery  —  Difficulties  of  travel  —  A  frontier  j  udge  — 
Fredericksburg  —  Albany  —  Louisville  —  Shelbyville  —  Cost  of 
lodgings  —  Frankfort  —  The  Kentuckians  —  Arrival  at  Cincin- 
nati. 

Princeton,  Indiana.  Decr.  7,  1817.  As  it  will  be 
agreeable  to  myself,  and,  perhaps,  amusing  to  my 
relations  in  England,  to  review  the  occurrences  and 
difficulties  of  settling  the  Bolton-house,  or  English, 
Prairie,  and  as  I  shall  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
ab  initio  an  English  settlement  in  the  wilderness  of 
the  Illinois,  I  will  keep  a  record  of  our  transactions. 

The  prairie  is  fine,  dry,  light  land,  and  rolling. 
It  contains  about  16  square  miles,  and  lies  about  6 
miles  from  each  of  the  Wabashes.  The  country 
around  is  healthy,  although  at  a  distance  there  are 
swampy  places. 

A  few  weeks  ago,  two  carpenters  (and  the  wife 
of  one  of  them)  arrived  uninvited  from  England. 

Yesterday  I  purchased  a  batteau  on  Mill  Pond, 
for  3$  and  Isaac  P repaired  it. 

This  morning  I  sent  Isaac  to  Harmony  on  horse- 
back to  buy  saws,  with  directions  to  proceed  across 
the  Wabash  to  Carmi ;  there  to  get  provisions  and 
necessaries,  which  he  is  to  get  hauled  to  the  Eng- 
lish Prairie. 

Jacob  P and  his  wife,  B d  B.,  and  myself 

are  going  down  the  Patoka1  in  the  batteau,  for  the 

xThe  Patoka  is  a  small  stream  flowing  westward  through  Dubois, 
Pike,  and  Gibson  counties,  Indiana,  and  emptying  into  the  Great 


Indiana  and  Kentucky  137 

swamp  between  this  town  and  Coffee  Island1  has 
been  rendered  impassable  by  the  late  unprecedented 
rains.  For  a  week  past  we  have  had  hard  frost; 
the  Thermometer  nightly  down  to  18°.  and  even  to 
12°. ;  to-day,  fine  balmy  weather  like  the  Indian  sum- 
mer. We  shall  take  with  us  blankets  and  pro- 
visions, as  we  shall  probably  have  to  encamp  on 
the  unsettled  banks  of  the  Patoka. 

Monday  Decr.  fh, — Put  the  batteau  on  the  car- 
riage of  a  waggon,  and  sent  it  off  to  the  Patoka 

with  J.  P ,  who  is  directed  to  make  oars  &c, 

and  to  launch  the  boat.  Yesterday  8  men  on  foot 
armed  with  pistols  and  rifles  came  into  the  town 
from  Harmony.  They  had  been  in  pursuit  of  an 
absconded  debtor  from  Vincennes. 

Decr.  8th.  B d,  P 's  wife,  and  myself  went 

on  horseback  to  T 's  on  the  Patoka,  where  we 

breakfasted.  Loaded  the  batteau ;  which  was  found 
to  be  much  too  small  to  carry  us,  our  tools,  and  the 
various  "impedimenta"  which  were  stowed  in  it. 
Besides  being  too  small,  it  was  weak  and  very  leaky. 
We  borrowed  a  canoe  in  exchange  for  the  skiff; 
but  that  was  so  ticklish  that  we  did  not  like  to 
venture  in  it  heavily  loaded.  At  last  we  determined 
to  take  both  batteau  and  canoe. 

The  Patoka  crosses  Indiana  from  East  to  West. 
It  is  a  deep,  but  narrow  stream,  and  exceedingly 
crooked  throughout  its  whole  course.  Its  length 

Wabash  at  Mt.  Carmel,  Illinois.  There  is  a  brief  description  of  the 
valley  of  the  Patoka  in  William  Tell  Harris's  Remarks,  p.  133. 

1  Coffee  Island  is  located  in  the  Great  Wabash  a  small  distance 
below  Mt.   Carmel. 


138  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

in  a  right  line  is  about  200  miles.  Where  we  em- 
barked it  was  about  20  yards  wide. 

We  have  been  much  impeded  by  fallen  trees,  some 
of  which  lie  quite  across  the  river;  one  we  have 
been  obliged  to  cut  through. 

I  hunted  for  an  hour  without  success;  missed 
some  ducks,  my  gun  being  loaded  with  Buck  shot. 

B d  took  his  turn.  He  saw  a  large  herd  of  deer, 

but  killed  nothing  but  a  parroquet.1 

Encamped  at  night  on  the  Northern  shore.  Soil, 
rich.  Timber,  —  Poplar,  Sycamore,  Hickory,  & 
Spice.  Weather  warm,  but  squally. 

Made  15  miles  this  day. 

Decr.  pth.  Morning  rainy.  Caulked  the  batteau. 
Weather  cleared  at  9.  Launched  our  craft.  We 
had  not  started  an  hour,  before  we  had  a  thunder 
storm  and  hard  rain. 

This  day  the  trees  were  more  across  the  river 
than  yesterday.  Nearly  lost  the  batteau  on  a  rapid, 
which  was  incumbered  by  fallen  trees.  I  leaped 
out  with  an  axe  and  cut  through  some  branches, 
and  we  passed  under  the  trunks.  The  canoe  soon 
after  got  again  entangled  under  a  fallen  tree.  Cur- 
rents very  rapid.  The  axe  was  employed  all  day. 

Towards  evening  I  left  P and  B d  to 

dig  a  channel  for  the  boats  round  the  butt  end  of 

Paroquets  (a  variety  of  small  parrot),  which  according  to  re- 
ports of  travelers  were  abundant  in  the  Ohio  Valley  a  hundred 
years  ago,  are  now  found  only  in  latitudes  much  further  south. 
Cuming,  in  1807,  writing  from  the  mouth  of  the  Scioto,  says :  "  We 
observed  here  vast  numbers  of  beautiful,  large,  green  paroquets, 
which  our  landlord,  squire  Brown,  informed  us  abound  all  over  the 
country.  They  keep  in  flocks,  and  when  they  alight  on  a  tree,  they 
are  not  distinguishable  from  the  foliage,  from  their  colour"  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  p.  161). 


Indiana  and  Kentucky  139 

a  fallen  tree;  and  I  walked  across  a  neck  of  land 
to  find  a  camping  ground.  Had  great  difficulty  in 
lighting  a  fire;  the  wood  was  so  wet. 

The  Timber  and  soil  nearly  the  same  as  yester- 
day. 

—  Pappaws  and  Cane  — 

The  stream  was  so  crooked,  that  we  went  towards 
every  point  of  the  compass,  and  only  once  had  a 
view  down  it  of  300  yards. 

The  meal  and  bread  got  wet.  We  shall  be  on 
short  allowance  in  two  days.  Memm. — To  get  a 
tobacco  pouch,  with  a  compartment  for  matches; 
for  not  being  able  to  get  logwod  bark,  I  burnt  al- 
most all  my  tow  in  kindling  a  fire.  Advanced  18 
miles. 

Decr.  ioth.  Morning  rainy.  Waited  till  nine  and 
started  in  a  drizzling  shower,  which  soon  increased 
to  a  heavy  rain,  which  lasted  all  day.  Arrived  at 
Coffee  Island  at  night  thoroughly  soaked. 

The  banks  of  the  Patoka  clayey,  and  covered  gen- 
erally with  cane.  The  Timber  —  Hickory,  the  soil 
—  thin. 

The  banks  of  the  Wabash  low  and  swampy.  The 
Sycamore  is  the  most  common  tree  on  the  shore, 
which  spreads  its  white  crooked  arms  over  the 
stream.  The  Wabash  at  Coffee  Island  is  1,100 
yards  wide. 

Advanced  to-day,  down  the  Patoka  15  miles 

down  the  Wabash  9  

24. 

Slept  at  M 's  house. 


140  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

Decr.  IIth.  We  were  discouraged  from  proceed- 
ing further  by  water,  and  enquired  for  waggons. 
There  were  but  two  wheeled  carriages  in  the  settle- 
ment; one  was  broken  and  the  other  rotten.  After 
some  delay  we  engaged  a  Frenchman  to  take  our 
plunder1  on  a  two  horse  sleigh,  and  packed  the  bed- 
ding on  a  horse,  —  on  which  the  woman  rode.  We 
got  to  the  Boonpas  an  hour  before  sun-set.  Car- 
ried the  plunder  and  the  sleigh  across  in  a  canoe, 
and  swam  the  horses.  We  should  have  staid,  but 
the  Boonpas  was  rising  so  fast,  —  6  feet  in  24 
hours,  —  that  we  were  afraid  that  the  creek  at  the 
Deer's  lick  would  be  banked  up.  As  it  was,  we  were 
just  in  time  to  cross  without  difficulty. 

In  crossing  the  Cypress  creek,2  before  we  reached 
the  Boonpas,  the  bedding  got  wet.  The  prairies 
were  half  leg  deep  in  water. 

No  rain  to-day,  but  the  weather  rather  cold.  The 
snow  is  now  drifting  into  the  camp,  which  we  have 
pitched  one  mile  beyond  the  crossing. 

DuG is  a  complete  hunter  and  an  entertain- 
ing companion. 

Marched  to-day  10  miles. 

Decr.  13th.  Saturday.  Breakfasted  before  sun- 
rise and  struck  our  camp.  The  long  prairie  is  an 
entire  swamp.  Waded  through  several  creeks.  At 
9  a.  m.  it  began  to  snow,  and  continued  all  day. 


1 A  frontier  provincialism   for  "  baggage." 

2  Cypress  Creek  is  a  sluggish  stream  in  Gallatin  County,  Illinois, 
between  Equality  and  Shawneetown.  It  flows  southward  into  the 
Saline  River. 


Indiana  and  Kentucky  141 

At  10  entered  our  own  prairie,  and  met  Isaac  P. 
with  the  waggon.  The  water  was  running  rapidly 
off  through  the  creeks,  which  were  nearly  full. 
Passing  the  second,  the  waggon  was  stuck  in  the 

mud,  and  the  sprig  tailed  mare,  upon  which  B d 

and  J.  P were  crossing,  fell  with  them  into  the 

water. 

I  left  the  baggage,  and  went  on  to  light  a  fire  in 
the  cabin,1  which  we  all  reached  in  safety  at  ^  past 
12.,  though  most  frozen. 

Spent  the  afternoon  in  fixing  ourselves  as  well  as 
we  could  in  our  cabin. 

DuG and  the  waggons  left  us  to  return  to 

their  respective  homes. 

The  snow  is  now  (9  p.  m.)  5  inches  deep.  We 
shall  sleep  in  our  blankets  on  Clapboards  with  our 
feet  to  the  fire. 

Decr.  14th.  Sunday.  Sent  the  two  P s  to 

W—  -'s,  about  three  miles  off  for  the  Yager  Rifle, 
and  the  Wallet,  containing  my  blanket  and  plunder, 
and  the  spade. 

We  have  now  a  complete  set  of  Sawyer's  and 

Carpenter's  tools.  B d  went  to  E 's  and 

brought  back  a  kettle  of  honey. 

While  the  men  were  gone,  W and  another 

man,  who  had  heard  of  our  arrival,  came  to  call  on 
us.  W promises  to  come  tomorrow  to  begin 

JThis  I  had  built  2  months  ago  of  round  logs,  chunked  and 
mudded.  It  had  nothing  but  the  bare  earth  for  the  floor  at  this  time, 
and  that  trod  to  mud  directly. — FORDHAM. 


142  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

the  other  cabin.  I  hear  that  another  English  Emi- 
grant has  arrived  at  Princeton,  and  is  coming  out 
to  us  with  his  family. 

I  searched  for  a  good  place  to  make  a  saw  pit. 
Made  a  tent  in  the  house  to  keep  off  the  snow,  which 
drifts  through  the  roof.  Snow  to-day  a  foot  deep. 

P unpacked  his  base  viol  and  has  played  sev- 
eral psalm  tunes  and  the  evening  hymn  —  the  lat- 
ter recalled  England  to  my  mind. 

I)ecr.  i$th.  The  P 's  are  making  a  sawpit. 

B d  went  on  the  mare  to  A and  W , 

and  bought  a  hog  weighing  200  Ibs  for  7$.  I  went 
surveying.  The  weather  very  cold  —  the  snow  14 
inches  deep. 

The  soil  where  the  sawpit  is  dug  is  rich  mould, 
but  thin:  next  to  it  lies  a  hazle  mould:  beneath 
lies  a  fine  grey  clay,  mixed  with  ochry  substances. 

Decr.  i6th.  The  P 's  still  preparing  for  saw- 
ing. E called  to  ask  me  to  follow  a  bear,  whose 

track,  freshly  made,  was  within  200  yards  of  our 
cabin.  As  I  could  not  go,  he  returned  home. 

A came  with  W and  agreed  to  build  two 

cabins  12  feet  by  14  inside, — standing  16  feet  apart, 
and  the  roof  to  be  continued  over  the  intermediate 
space ;  they  are  to  be  chunked,  doors  to  be  cut  out ; 
joists  and  sleepers  laid:  the  whole  for  25$. 

Went  with  B d  to  get  a  grape  vine  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  a  chain.  After  dinner  surveyed  till  dark. 

The  weather  is  more  mild  to-day  —  some  snow, 
but  a  Southwest  wind  has  driven  away  all  the 
clouds.  The  night  is  calm  and  beautiful. 


Indiana  and  Kentucky  143' 

I  found  to-day  a  beautiful  prisimon  tree,  about 
fifty  feet  high,  and  a  great  quantity  of  fruit  upon 
it,  —  which  are  now  delicious.  They  taste  like  rai- 
sins dipped  in  honey.  I  have  kept  some  seeds  to 
send  to  M . 

Decr.  ifh.  Wednesday.  Surveying.  Saw  some 
prairie  hawks,  blue  bodies,  ash  coloured  belly  and 
wings,  tipped  with  black. 

Came  home  over  the  middle  creek,  into  which  I 
fell  through  the  Ice. 

Decr.  i8th.  Bought  a  deer  of  B-  -  for  $1.50. 
He  promises  to  bring  in  some  Turkeys. 

W brought  in  a  hog,  which  A shot 

for  us. 

I  planted  about  a  peck  of  peach  stones.  Bid 
W good  bye. 

The  settlers  are  all  glad  we  are  going  to  have  a 
mill  built;  they  have  now  to  pack  their  meal  25 

miles.  A has  been  pounding  corn  for  us,  and 

it  makes  good  bread. 

Weather  still  very  cold  —  7  degrees  below 
zero.  .  .  . 

I  rather  dread  my  voyage  up  the  Patoka,  as  we 
shall  have  logs,  and,  perhaps,  ice  to  impede  us. 

S has  told  me  how  to  rig  the  canoe  to  the  best 

advantage. 

Sawing  goes  on  very  slowly:  the  tools  are  all 
new;  and  the  black  oak  very  hard.  Every  body 
says  that  the  mill  will  be  carried  away  by  the  first 
hurricane.  But,  as  Smeaton  has  erected  a  tower, 
which  withstands  the  winds  and  waves  of  the  Ocean, 


144  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

there  is  certainly  a  possibility,  that  another  may  be 
made  to  stand  fast  against  wind  alone.1  It  will  be 
the  first  wind-mill  built  on  this  side  of  the  Ohio. 

The  P—  — s  have  been  a  little  disheartened  by 
the  difficulty  of  getting  provisions,  but  now  that 
they  have  300  Ibs  of  meat  hanging  against  the  wall, 
they  are  quite  chearful. 

B d  and  I  cut  off  two  ribs  from  the  Buck, 

spitted  them  on  a  sharp  pointed  stick,  and  roasted 
them  for  our  dinner;  they  were  delicious. 

Walked  to  W-  — s  and  slept  there.  We  could 
not  take  our  pack  horse  across  the  Boonpas,  be- 
cause of  the  Ice.  We  were  therefore  obliged  to 
leave  him  tied  to  a  tree,  with  a  blanket  over  him, 
which  was  more  merciful  than  to  swim  him  through 
freezing  water. 

Decr.  ipth.  Walked  to  DuG—  -'s,  where  we 
were  told  that  the  Wabash  was  impassible  because 
the  Ice  was  floating  down  in  such  great  quantities. 

Sent  Isaac  back  with  the  packhorse  and  walked 
on  to  the  river.  The  masses  of  ice  filled  the  cur- 
rent of  the  stream,  and  broke  against  the  shore, 
like  harsh  and  distant  Thunder. 

2oth.  2ist.  Decr.  At  the  cottage  of  the  ferryman. 
This  cabin  contains  but  one  room  12  feet  square. 
The  owner  is  a  Canadian  Frenchman,  and  he  and 


*John  Smeaton  (1724-1792)  was  an  English  civil  engineer  who 
made  notable  experiments  on  the  power  of  water  and  air  to  turn 
mills  and  other  machinery  requiring  a  circular  motion.  His  chief 
fame  came  from  his  rebuilding  of  the  Eddystone  lighthouse  after 
its  destruction  by  fire  in  1755.  This  is  the  achievement  to  which 
Fordham  refers. 


Indiana  and  Kentucky  145 

his  wife  are  very  civil  to  us.  We  have  two  blankets 
and  a  buffalo  robe  on  which  we  sleep  with  our  feet 
to  the  fire. 

Three  men  on  the  opposite  shore,  have,  at  the 
risk  of  their  lives,  crossed  over  amidst  the  ice.  They 
were  nearly  two  hours  making  unsuccessful  efforts. 
They  relanded,  and  lighted  a  fire.  In  the  afternoon 
they  tried  again  and  dashed  across.  Their  Canoe 
was  nearly  bored  through,  and  half  filled  with  Ice, 
which  broke  over  them.  They  described  the  grind- 
ing of  the  Ice  terrible. 

I  believe  I  should  try,  but  my  guns  are  valuable ; 
and  though  B d  and  myself  might  save  our- 
selves, we  should  inevitably  lose  them  if  the  Canoe 
should  upset. 

There  is  more  genuine  kindness  and  politeness 
among  these  backwoodsmen,  than  among  any  set 
of  people,  I  have  yet  seen  in  America.  They  know 
so  well  the  value  of  good  neighbourhood,  and  feel 
so  independent  of  the  laws  and  restraints  of  every 
kind.  Each  man  has  a  consciousness  of  power  to 
do  good  or  evil.  Thus  he  is  polite,  for  the  same 
reason  that  the  most  powerful  animals  are  gentle. 

Canadian  French  Words 


Freit,  s.  cold 

Mui,  me 

orea,    s.  ear 


aussite  likewise 

icite  for  ici 

L'isle.  s.  for  1'oeil 


bain.  ad.  good 

The  river  upon  which  Detroit  is  built  is  thickly 
settled  for  60  leagues.1 

1  Detroit  is  located  on  a  broad  stream  of  the  same  name  connect- 
ing Lakes  Huron  and  Erie.  Its  site  was  regarded  as  strategic  by 
the  earliest  French  explorers,  as  La  Salle,  but  a  permanent  post 


146  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

The  Hurons  and  Iroquois  are  Catholics. 

Mocassins  are  sewed  with  the  sinews  of  the  Deer. 

There  are  a  few  Indian  slaves  in  Detroit. 

23*.  Crossed  the  Wabash  in  the  afternoon  in  a 
Canoe  amidst  the  Ice.  Walked  to  the  Swamp;  but 
it  was  too  dark  for  us  to  find  the  way  across,  and 
the  Ice  was  rapidly  thawing.  After  making  three 
attempts  we  held  a  Council,  whether  it  would  be 
best  to  camp  out  upon  a  neck  of  land  running  into 
the  Swamp,  or  to  go  back  some  miles  to  the  only 
hut  on  that  side  the  Swamp.  We  decided  on  the 
latter,  as  the  melting  snow  would  have  made  it  im- 
possible to  light  a  fire,  and  it  was  then  raining  hard. 
The  whistling  of  the  wind  and  the  howling  of  the 
wolves,  all  seemed  to  promise  a  stormy  night.  After 
cutting  up  my  gun  case  to  cover  my  thin  Mocas- 
sins, which  did  not  sufficiently  protect  my  feet,  we 

slowly  retraced  our  steps,  and  reached  Mr.  A 's 

cabin  at  10.  Found  all  the  inhabitants  abed,  but 
not  asleep.  The  room  was  so  full  of  children,  hunt- 
ers, hogdrivers,  and  dogs,  that  it  was  with  diffi- 
culty we  could  stretch  our  bodies  upon  the  floor. 
There  on  our  wet  great  coats,  with  our  own  wet 
blankets  laid  over  us,  we  slept  as  soundly  as  ever 
I  have  slept  on  a  featherbed. 

was  not  established  there  until  1701,  when  Fort  Pontchartrain  was 
constructed  by  De  la  Mothe  Cadillac.  A  settlement  of  French  and 
Indians  was  begun,  and  by  1750  the  place  had  a  population  of  five 
hundred,  with  fully  two  thousand  Indians  living  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood.  Between  1760,  when  it  passed  under  English  control, 
and  1813.  when  it  was  finally  reclaimed  from  British  possession  after 
Hull's  surrender,  the  town  had  a  history  whose  interest  and  sig- 
nificance it  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate.  The  story  is  told  in 
many  places,  among  them  being  Farmer's  History  of  Detroit  and 
Michigan  (Detroit,  1884). 


Indiana  and  Kentucky  147 

Next  morning,  proceeded  at  day  break  in  a  pelt- 
ing shower  to  the  swamp,  with  a  man  who  was 
going  the  same  way.  Found  a  Canoe  half  full  of 
Ice,  and  brimfull  of  water.  Bailed  it  dry  with  our 
hands,  and  with  difficulty  launched  it.  After  work- 
ing hard  in  breaking  the  ice,  and  having  our  bodies 
completely  drenched  in  perspiration,  though  our 
feet  were  very  cold,  we  left  the  canoe,  trusting  our- 
selves to  the  Ice,  and  reached  Mr.  C 's  house, 

where  we  breakfasted  and  hired  two  horses,  to  take 
us  to  Princeton  at  Christmas  Eve. 

It  was  not  expected  we  should  have  crossed  the 
Wabash. 

Christmas  Day  —  This  day  was  spent  by  one 
set  of  the  religionists  in  hearing  a  sermon  and 
prayers  which  lasted  from  breakfast  till  nightfall. 

Another  set  of  people  were  busy  in  cooking  wild 
turkeys,  and  dancing  in  the  evening. 

The  young  men  had  their  rifles  out,  and  were 
firing  feux  de  joi  almost  all  the  preceding  night, 
all  the  day  till  late  into  the  evening.  It  reminded 
me  of  Byron's  description  of  the  Moslems  firing  at 
the  feast  of  the  Ramadan  in  Constantinople  i1  —  but 
we  backwoodsmen  never  fire  a  gun  loaded  with  ball 
into  the  town,  —  only  from  all  parts  of  it,  out 
towards  the  woods. 

26th. — The  Ball  —  There  were  about  20  cou- 
ples: most  of  them  genteelly  dressed.  We  had 
Judge there  with  his  daughter,  with  whom  I 


1  The  reference  is  obscure.    The  poem  entitled  The  Giaour  contains 
a  passage  which  may  have  been  in  the  writer's  mind. 


148  Fordhams  Personal  Narrative 

danced.  There  were  no  thin  shoes  to  be  obtained 
in  the  town,  so  we  young  men  agreed  to  dance  in 
Mocassins;  some  of  which,  made  by  the  Indians, 
gaily  embroidered  and  hung  with  little  tassels  of 
hair  dyed  red  looked  very  smart. 
2fh  &  <?£'*.  — Planning  the  Mill. 


January  i8th.  1818.  I  have  been  making  a  model 
of  a  Windmill,  which  is  now  nearly  completed.  The 
weather  has  been  cold,  but  the  air  clear  and  chear- 
f ul.  The  Thermometer  once  down  to  8  below  zero ; 
but  afterwards  the  air  gradually  became  milder, 
till  yesterday  at  noon  it  rose  to  57°.,  and  at  night 
was  48°. 

Several  families  have  passed  through  the  town 
for  the  Illinois,  and  every  thing  is  going  on  so 
favorably,  that  all  are  chearful. 

A  repeal  of  the  old  law  against  duelling  has  been 
obtained,  and  a  new  one  enacted  which  subjects  de- 
linquents to  corporal  punishments,  in  addition  to 
the  other  penalties  of  fine  and  disability  to  hold 
public  offices.  Col.  E.  drew  up  this  bill. 

This  bill  was  thrown  out  at  the  third  reading. 
The  subject  is  involved  in  more  difficulty,  than  it  is 
in  Europe.  Every  State  has  attempted  to  put  a 
stop  to  duelling,  and  some  have  nearly  effected  it; 
but  the  manners  and  dispositions  have  not  become 
more  moderate  or  more  mild.  There  are  a  number 
of  dissipated  and  desperate  characters,  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  assembled  in  these  Western 
States;  and  these,  of  course,  are  overbearing  and 


Indiana  and  Kentucky  149 

insolent.  It  is  nearly  impossible  for  a  man  to  be 
so  circumspect,  as  to  avoid  giving  offence  to  these 
irritable  spirits ;  who,  in  fact,  do  not  always  wait  for 
provocation  to  be  insolent.  The  Kentuckians  on 
these  occasions  use  their  dirks,  and  the  Ohio  men 
are  abusive.  Men  of  education  and  manners,  will, 
if  they  can,  fight  with  weapons ;  and  the  vulgar  bite, 
kick,  and  gouge  each  other. 

A  new  County  has  been  made  South  of  us;  and 
Evansville,  it  is  expected,  will  be  the  County  Seat.1 

There  are  Pelicans  on  the  Wabash. 

Rode  this  afternoon  with  Mess".  H and 

S through  the  Seminary  Township,2  which  will 


1  This  was  Vanderburgh  County,  separated  from  Warrick  by  the 
state  legislature  early  in  1818.  In  1812  Hugh  McGary,  of  Ken- 
tucky, built  a  log-house  on  the  site  of  the  future  Evansville,  which 
was  the  first  dwelling  erected  by  a  white  man  in  this  section  of  the 
Indiana  Territory.  In  1816  General  Robert  M.  Evans  and  James 
W.  Jones  purchased  the  land  lying  north  of  the  present  Main  Street 
and  laid  out  a  town.  Three  years  later  the  place  had  a  hundred 
inhabitants,  but  thereafter  it  grew  slowly  (as  late  as  1836  having  a 
population  of  only  five  hundred)  until  about  the  time  of  its  in- 
corporation in  1847,  when  it  began  a  steady  development  which  has 
made  it  second  in  size  only  to  Indianapolis  among  the  cities  of  the 
state.  General  Evans,  the  founder,  was  a  Virginian  who  in  1803 
settled  at  Paris,  Kentucky,  and  two  years  later  removed  to  a  farm 
two  miles  north  of  the  present  town  of  Princeton,  Indiana.  From 
1809  to  1811  he  kept  a  hotel  at  Vincennes,  but  with  the  exception 
of  these  two  years  and  1824-25,  which  were  spent  at  Evansville,  he 
remained  the  rest  of  his  life  at  his  Gibson  County  location. 

2In  1804  Congress  bestowed  upon  the  Territory  of  Indiana  a 
township  of  land  to  be  used  for  the  establishment  of  a  seminary  of 
learning.  Two  years  later  Albert  Gallatin,  then  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  selected  for  this  purpose  a  township,  comprising  23,040 
acres,  in  what  is  now  Gibson  County,  and  in  1807  the  Territorial 
Legislature  passed  an  act  incorporating  an  institution  "  to  be  called 
or  known  by  the  name  or  style  of  the  Vincennes  University  "  and 
to  be  supported  by  lotteries  and  by  the  sale  of  land  in  the  "  sem- 
inary township."  About  4,000  acres  of  the  land  were  sold,  a  brick 
building  was  erected,  and  in  1810  the  "  university "  was  opened. 
Funds  soon  ran  low,  however,  and  in  1823  the  school  was  forced  to 
close  its  doors.  In  the  following  year  it  was  declared  extinct  by  the 


150  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

be  probably  sold  in  a  year  or  two.  The  land  we 
crossed  was  excellent.  Sugar  tree,  Elm,  Oak,  Hick- 
ory, and  Sassafras  mixed  together.  The  Surface 
• — rolling  —  and  several  fine  eminences  for  houses. 
H-  -  has  proposed  to  me  to  go  to  the  South  with 
him  to  join  Gen.  Gaines,1  who  is  fighting  with  the 

legislature.  Meanwhile,  in  1816,  in  the  enabling  act  of  Congress 
authorizing  the  formation  of  a  state  government  for  Indiana,  the 
commonwealth  was  given  another  township,  to  be  designated  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  for  the  maintenance  of  a  seminary. 
The  township  selected  by  President  Monroe  lay  in  what  is  now 
Monroe  County  and  was  later  named  Perry  Township.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1820,  the  Indiana  legislature  passed  an  act  to  establish  a 
State  Seminary.  The  site  selected  by  the  trustees  of  the  prospective 
institution  was  the  town  of  Bloomington,  situated  on  the  northern 
edge  of  the  new  "  seminary  township."  In  1824  the  Seminary  was 
opened  under  the  direction  of  Rev.  Baynard  R.  Hall,  who  for  three 
years  was  the  only  instructor.  In  January,  1828,  the  legislature 
raised  the  institution  to  the  rank  of  a  college  and  the  presidency 
was  vested  in  Dr.  Andrew  Wylie,  then  President  of  Washington 
College,  Pennsylvania.  By  act  of  February  25,  1838,  Indiana  Col- 
lege was  converted  into  Indiana  University.  In  1822  the  legislature 
passed  an  act  authorizing  the  sale  of  the  remainder  of  the  seminary 
township  in  Gibson  County  and  providing  for  the  application  of  the 
proceeds  to  the  support  of  the  Seminary  created  two  years  before. 
This  act  was  defended  on  the  ground  that  the  trustees  of  the  Vin- 
cenne?  University  had  sold  a  portion  of  their  land  in  an  illegal  man- 
ner and  had  suffered  their  organization  to  lapse.  It  was  keenly 
resented,  however,  by  the  friends  of  the  defunct  college  and  after 
the  resurrection  of  the  school  in  1840  its  new  trustees  brought  suit 
against  the  purchasers  of  the  Gibson  County  land  to  recover  pos- 
session. In  1846  the  legislature,  recognizing  the  injustice  of  allow- 
ing the  burden  of  defense  of  titles  to  rest  on  the  purchasers,  au- 
thorized the  university  to  bring  suit  against  the  state.  The  out- 
come was  a  decision  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
six  years  later  in  favor  of  the  university ;  whereupon  the  state 
made  due  compensation  for  the  lands  thus  virtually  adjudged  to  have 
been  confiscated.  Vincennes  University  still  exists  as  a  minor  col- 
lege, though  its  persistent  demands  to  be  recognized  as  an  insti- 
tution having  a  just  claim  upon  the  state  for  support  have  been 
uniformly  ineffective. 

1  In  1816-17  General  Edmund  P.  Gaines  was  occupied  on  the  Flor- 
ida frontier  with  the  difficult  task  of  preserving  order  and  checking 
the  depredations  of  runaway  negro  slaves,  Spanish  and  English 
filibusters,  and  various  groups  of  hostile  Indians.  There  ensued 
a  period  of  border  warfare,  which  culminated  in  the  Seminole  War 
of  1818,  marked  by  the  dashing  operations  of  General  Andrew 
Jackson. 


Indiana  and  Kentucky 


Creek  Indians.  I  declined  the  honour,  and  I  be- 
lieve he  has  relinquished  his  design. 

Jany.  i$th.  Thermometer  54°.  The  morning 
opened  with  a  thunderstorm.  The  day  has  been 
darker  than  any  we  have  had  this  winter.  I  have 
yet  seen  no  mists,  except  on  the  great  rivers. 

Jany.  23*.  Commenced  my  journey  to  Cincinnati. 
Slept  at  Vincennes. 

-  24th.  —  Sunday.  —  Slept  at  Mrs.  H's.    Killed 
an  Opossum  on  the  ro/ad.    Weather  cold  and  rainy. 

-  2  $th.  —  Monday  —  Slept  at  Bar's  between  the 
forks  of  White  River.1    Road  dreadfully  bad.    The 
Prairie,  or  rather  barren,  for  it  is  covered  with 
shrubs,  is  pretty  good  land  lying  on  clay,  which 
gets  so  soft  in  wet  weather,  that  the  Horse's  foot 
sinks  deep  into  it.     Once  my  horse  sunk  in  the 
plain  up  to  his  chest,  and  rolled  over. 

Snow  in  evening. 

26th.  Crossed  the  East  fork  of  White  River  and 
slept  at  Dr.  A  -  's.  .  .  . 

I  made  myself  very  comfortable  here,  and  slept, 
for  the  first  time  in  many  months,  between  a  pair 
of  sheets.  These  are,  however,  no  luxuries,  com- 
pared with  a  clean  and  rather  fine  blanket. 

A  few  miles  from  Dr.  A  -  's  a  river  gushes  from 
the  ridge  of  rocky  hills  to  the  North,  at  once  in  its 
full  size.  Seventeen  miles  further  North,  a  stream 
apparently  as  large,  sinks  into  the  hills.  These  are 

'The  East  Fork  of  White  River  rises  in  Rush  County,  in  south- 
eastern  Indiana,   and   the   West   Fork   in   Madison   County,   in   the 
central  part  of  the  same  state.     The  two   unite  near  the  town  of 
Petersburg,  about  eighteen  miles  south-east  of  Vincennes. 
i  o 


152  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

probably  one  and  the  same.     Last  summer  I  rode 

with over  that  ridge,  and  missed  both  rivers. 

We  passed  some  wildernesses,  which  seemed  to  be 
the  abode  of  nothing  but  wild  beasts;  yet  there 
while  I  was  thinking  of  camping  out,  being  quite 
lost,  I  found  a  habitation  and  a  welcome. 

It  is  reported  that  250  warriors  are  assembled  on 
the  head  waters  of  the  White  River,  to  avenge  the 
deaths  of  some  men,  who  have  been  murdered  near 
this  place. 

Judge  of  overtaking  me,   informed 

me  that  the  road  to  Cincinnati  through  Indiana 
was  too  bad  to  be  travelled  with  safety. 

I  then  changed  my  route,  and  set  off  with  him. 
We  swam  Cane  Creek  and  another  little  rapid 
stream.  My  mare  swam  by  jerks,  and  dipped  me 
waist  deep.  It  was  freezing  hard,  so  that  our 
clothes  soon  became  stiff,  and  our  horses  were 
bearded  with  icicles. 

Our  road  then  lay  over  some  high,  rocky  hills, 
which  afforded  distant  prospects.  We  passed  the 
mouths  of  some  caverns,  out  of  which  rushed  some 
mountain  torrents. 

America,  however,  is  not  the  land  of  prospects. 
There  is  too  much  wood;  and,  when  on  the  barren 
peak  of  some  rocky  hill,  you  catch  a  distant  view, 
it  generally  is  nothing  but  an  undulating  surface 
of  impenetrable  forests.  The  very  views  which  are 
admired  by  the  few  Americans  who  have  taste 
proves  to  me  that  North  America  is  not  generally 
picturesque. 


Indiana  and  Kentucky 


Perhaps  some  parts  of  the  mountains  of  Virginia 
and  Kentucky  would  present  exceptions;  and  the 
great  rivers  during  the  summer  season. 

The  footsteps  of  man,  in  spite  of  all  the  nonsense 
that  has  been  written  and  said  to  the  contrary, 
leave  behind  them  beauty  and  delight.  When  the 
forests  recede  from  the  valleys,  and  verdure  clothes 
the  hills,  and  villages  are  scattered  through  wastes, 
North  America  will  become  a  beautiful  and  pic- 
turesque country. 

It  is  seldom  that  a  view  of  200  yards  in  extent, 
can  be  caught  in  Indiana.  The  woods  west  of  the 
Mountains  are  not,  as  Mrs.  W.  says  in  the  wrongs 
of  woman,  "clustering  forests  of  small  trees."  It 
is  a  long  time  before  an  English  eye  becomes  accus- 
tomed to  their  size  and  grandeur.  The  live  poplar, 
or  tulip-bearing  tree,  of  which  canoes  are  made,  the 
sycamore,  the  walnut,  and  the  white  oak,  grow  to 
a  prodigious  size. 

Four  miles  from  Cane  Creek  we  struck  into  a 
new  path,  which  led  over  the  tops  of  one  of  these 
knobs,  which  was  composed  chiefly  of  sandstone, 
with  some  argillaceous  schist.  The  trees  were  cov- 
ered with  ice,  so  transparent  and  so  brilliant,  that 
the  boughs  looked  like  glasswork,  and  threw  on 
the  eye  a  confused  splendour,  which  was  bounded 
only  by  the  distant  hills.  The  boughs  and  fretwork 
of  ice,  that  intercepted  the  rays  of  the  sun,  were 
faintly  tinged  with  prismatic  colours.  At  our  feet 
were  rapid  torrents,  which  gushed  from  the  cav- 


154  F or dham's  Personal  Narrative 

erns  above  us,  sparkled  in  light,  and  then  leaped 
into  the  darkness  of  the  abysses  below. 

Another  hour  brought  us  to  French-lick  creek,1 
where  we  dressed  and  warmed  ourselves,  and  hired 
a  guide  to  take  us  to  a  fordable  crossing.  We  car- 
ried our  blankets  and  saddle  bags  in  our  arms,  and 
walked  over  a  fallen  tree,  which  tottered  high  in 
air  above  the  flood,  and  our  guide  drove  our  horses 
after  us  through  the  river.  This  young  man  was 
a  cripple,  and  the  second  I  have  seen  in  the  West- 
ern Country.  Deformity  is  as  rare  among  the 
Backwoodsmen,  as  it  is  among  the  Indians. 

We  slept  at  Mr.  H 's  on Creek,  a  sub- 
stantial Indiana  farmer.  He  came  home  while  we 
were  at  supper,  with  three  of  his  neighbours,  who 
were  completely  armed.  They  had  been  to  take 
some  men  to  Paoli  gaol,  for  robbing  a  store  on 
Little  Blue  river.8  They  informed  us  that  there 
were  a  gang  of  brigands  on  that  river,  who  lived 
by  passing  forged  notes,  stealing  horses  &c.,  and 
hunting.  They  had  a  strong  rock  house  among 

1  The   sulphurous   saline    springs   at   French   Lick   became   at   an 
early   date   one   of  the  best   known    features   of   southern   Indiana. 
They  are  located  in  Orange  County,  about  forty-five  miles  north- 
west of  New  Albany.    Hulme,  who  visited  them  in  1818,  says  in  his 
Journal:     "On  our  way   [from  Princeton  to  New   Albany],  pass 
French  Lick,  a  strong  spring  of  water  impregnated  with  salt  and 
sulphur,  and  called  Lick  from  its  being  resorted  to  by  cattle  for  the 
salt;  close  by  this  spring  is  another  still  larger,  of  fine  clear  lime- 
stone water,  running  fast  enough  to  turn  a  mill"  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  x,   p.  62).     The  stream  thus  originated   is  the  creek  to 
which   Fordham   refers.     The  French   Lick  and  neighboring   West 
Baden  springs  are  now  health  resorts  of  considerable  note. 

2  Paoli,  the  seat  of  Orange  County,  Indiana,  is  forty  miles  north- 
west of  New  Albany. 

8 Little  Blue  River  is  a  small  stream  in  southern  Indiana,  flowing 
into  the  Ohio  at  a  point  about  seventy-five  miles  below  Louisville. 


Indiana  and  Kentucky  155 

the  hills,  and  it  was  said  they  had  three  or  four 

guns  apiece.  One  of  Mr.  H 's  guests  wanted  to 

raise  the  whole  force  of  the  settlement  that  night, 
and  to  make  an  attack  on  the  rock  house  before 
daylight.  But  more  prudent  councils  prevailed. 

My  companion  Judge 'is  a  lively,  entertain- 
ing young  man;  24  years  old.  He  is  an  associate 
Judge  and  sits  on  the  bench  with  the  circuit  or  law 
judge;  but  gives  his  opinion  only  on  the  equity  of 
a  case.  He  is  a  merchant  and  a  store  keeper.  He 
rides  a  good  horse  with  silver  studded  bridle,  and 
his  saddle  is  ornamented  with  silver,  and  scarlet 
housings.  He  carried  a  pair  of  pistols  at  his  saddle 
bow;  and  altogether  looks  more  like  a  Dragoon 
Officer  in  plain  clothes,  than  a  Judge.  At  least, 
he  is  not  at  all  like  Lords  Mansfield  or  Ellenbor- 
ough. 

2fh.  Breakfasted  at  Mr.  C. 's  —  another  sub- 
stantial farmer.  He  was  at  Corydon  j1  being  a  rep- 
resentative of  his  fellow  citizens  in  the  Legislature. 
His  wife  and  sister  soon  cooked  us  an  excellent 
breakfast  of  Venison,  Fowls,  ham  and  bacon,  hot 
johnney  cakes,  waffles  &c.  We  had  likewise  tea 
and  coffee,  and  a  dram  of  whiskey,  to  keep  the  cold 
off  our  stomachs.  Our  horses  had  2  gallons  of 
oats.  For  all  of  which  we  paid  $7^/2.  Cents. 

The  country  is  still  hilly,  though  not  so  broken 
as  that  we  crossed  yesterday. 

1  Corydon,  seat  of  Harrison  County,  became  the  capital  of  Indiana 
in  1813.  Twelve  years  later,  and  nine  after  the  Territory  had  be- 
come a  state,  the  capital  was  transferred  to  Indianapolis.  See  p.  101, 
note. 


156  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

Soil  —  third  rate,  —  except  in  the  bottoms.  We 
crossed  the  Little  Blue  River  at  Fredericksburg,  a 
miserable  village,  in  a  mud  hole.  The  river  is  50 
yards  wide,  deep,  and  has  a  rapid  current.  It  is 
called  blue  from  the  tint  of  the  waters,  which  are 
clear  and  flow  over  a  slaty  bottom. 

The  land  around  Fredericksburg  is  high,  and 
some  of  it  sandy.  It  is  inconceivable  that  the  Amer- 
icans should  be  so  stupid  as  to  plant  their  towns 
in  the  dirtiest  puddles  they  can  find.  But  they  have 
such  a  dread  of  a  little  trouble,  that  they  must  be 
near  a  creek,  that  they  may  dip  for  water  at  their 
Cabin  doors;  for  wells  won't  dig  themselves,  and 
the  swing  pole  and  bucket  are  for  ever  out  of  order. 
Pumps  are  out  of  all  question  with  a  backwoods 
man. 

Ascending  the  hill  from  the  forks  of  the  Little 
Blue,  we  entered  a  high  rolling  country  of  sandy 
barrens.  When  we  had  passed  these,  we  got  en- 
tangled in  a  flat  swampy  tract  of  White  oak  land, 
which  we  were  two  hours  crossing.  At  Sunset 
passed  another  little  village  of  hewn  log  Cabins, 
and  arrived  at  Mr.  D Js  just  as  it  got  dark.  .  .  . 

Here  we  overtook  a  Captn.  B from  the  upper 

parts  of  Kentucky,  who  joined  Company  with  us. 

28th.  —  About  8  miles  from  D 's  we  ascended 

a  high  ridge,  which  gave  us  a  view  of  the  Ohio 
with  its  Silver  waves  gleaming  in  the  Sun.  Louis- 
ville1 on  the  opposite  banks  6  miles  N.  E.  and  the 


1  The  first  plot  for  a  settlement  on  the  site  of  Louisville  was  pre- 
pared in  1773  by  Captain  Thomas  Bullitt,  an  agent  sent  out  by  the 


Indiana  and  Kentucky  157 

hills  of  Kentucky,  formed  a  waving  outline  of  dark 
forests,  and  around  and  beneath  us  were  steep  banks 
thinly  covered  with  timber. 

Two  hours  brought  us  to  Albany,1  on  the  Ohio. 

College  of  William  and  Mary  to  approve  western  surveys.  Two 
years  later  the  place  was  occupied,  though  the  beginnings  of  the 
present  city  are  really  to  be  traced  only  to  the  pioneers  who  went 
to  "  the  Falls  "  with  George  Rogers  Clark  in  1778  and  eventually 
settled  there  (see  note  i  below).  By  1784  the  town  comprised  a 
hundred  houses  and  thanks  to  the  growing  traffic  up  and  down 
the  Ohio  and  to  the  rapids  which  compelled  a  portage  near  its  site, 
was  well  on  the  road  to  prosperity  (on  the  Falls,  see  p.  105,  note 
2).  Cuming,  in  his  Sketches,  written  in  1808,  describes  the  place 
as  follows :  "  Louisville  consists  of  one  principal  and  very  hand- 
some street,  about  half  a  mile  long,  tolerably  compactly  built,  and 
the  houses  generally  superior  to  any  I  have  seen  in  the  western  coun- 
try with  the  exception  of  Lexington.  Most  are  of  handsome  brick, 
and  some  are  three  stories,  with  a  parapet  wall  on  the  top  in  the 
modern  European  taste,  which  in  front  gives  them  the  appearance 
of  having  flat  roofs.  I  had  thought  Cincinnati  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  towns  I  had  seen  in  America,  but  Louisville,  which  is 
almost  as  large,  equals  it  in  beauty,  and  in  the  opinion  of  many 
excells  it"  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  pp.  259-260).  Melish  tells 
us,  in  1811,  that  the  town  had  a  population  of  1307,  including  484 
negro  slaves  (Travels,  ii,  pp.  149-150).  By  1820  the  population  had 
increased  to  over  4000,  and  by  1826  to  over  7000.  Travellers  were 
generally  very  favorably  impressed  with  the  location  of  the  town 
and  with  the  character  of  its  people.  Among  interesting  accounts 
may  be  mentioned  Fearon,  Sketches,  pp.  245-255 ;  Woods,  Two 
Years'  Residence  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  pp.  242-244)  ;  William 
Tell  Harris,  Remarks,  pp.  129-130,  143-145;  Faux,  Memorable  Days 
(EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xi,  p.  196)  ;  Welby,  Visit  to  North  Amer- 
ica (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xii,  pp.  226-227)  >  and  Ogden,  Let- 
ters from  the  West  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xix,  pp.  40-41). 
On  the  history  of  Louisville  see  Reuben  Thomas  Durrett,  The  Cen- 
tenary of  Louisville,  Filson  Club  Publications  No.  8  (Louisville, 
1893) ;  H.  McMurtrie,  Sketches  of  Louisville  and  its  Environs 
(Louisville,  1819)  ;  and  Ben  Casseday,  History  of  Louisville  from  its 
Earliest  Settlement  till  the  Year  1852  (Louisville,  1852). 

1  Albany,  now  known  as  New  Albany,  is  the  seat  of  Floyd  County, 
Indiana.  The  history  of  the  town  begins  in  a  sense  with  the  grant 
of  150,000  acres  of  land  in  its  vicinity  to  the  officers  and  soldiers 
of  George  Rogers  Clark's  Illinois  regiment,  made  by  the  legislature 
of  Virginia  in  1783.  Clarksville,  across  the  Ohio  from  Shipping- 
port  and  a  little  above  the  mouth  of  Silver  Creek,  was  established 
in  pursuance  of  this  grant.  The  site  selected  was  not  a  healthful 
one,  however,  and  for  various  reasons  the  settlement  did  not  pros- 
per; in  1819  it  contained  fewer  than  one  hundred  people.  The 
place  is  now  a  suburb  of  New  Albany.  The  latter  town  proper  was 


158  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

Its  Main  Street  is  a  broad  ditch  of  mud.  We  crossed 

the  Ohio  here,  and  took  leave  of  Judge .  Capt". 

B and  myself  went  on  to  Louisville. 

We  put  up  at  the  Washington  Hall,  a  handsome 
hotel;  supplied  apparently  with  the  usual  luxuries 
of  European  Inns,  except  clean  floors.  There  were 
a  great  many  well-dressed  gentlemen  in  the  read- 
ing and  bar  room,  whose  attention  was  caught  by 
my  appearance.  I  had  on  a  decent  suit  of  clothes, 
though  past  their  best,  and  a  pair  of  Kentucky  leg- 
gings, but  over  my  great  coat  I  wore  a  blanket, 
pinned  under  the  chin  in  the  Indian  fashion,  and 
confined  to  the  waist  by  a  leather  belt ;  to  which  was 
suspended  a  large  hunting  or  scalping  Knife.  Fif- 
teen years  ago,  this  was  a  common  dress  in  Ken- 
tucky, as  it  is  now  on  the  frontiers  of  Indiana  and 
in  the  Illinois  Territory.  But  the  early  Settlers  of 
Kentucky  are  dead,  or  moved  farther  west ;  or  have 
become  rich  and  luxurious,  and  Mercantile  adven- 
turers have  introduced  the  fashions  of  London  and 
Paris.  Perhaps  there  is  a  greater  proportion  of 
well  dressed  men  in  Louisville  than  in  any  Eu- 
ropean Commercial  city. 

We  remounted  our  horses  again  at  4  p.  m.,  and 
at  dark  we  reached  the  habitation  of  Monsr.  N., 
who  keeps  a  house  of  private  entertainment,  that  is 
to  say,  an  Inn ;  in  which  travellers  are  received,  but 
neighbours  are  not  allowed  to  drink. 

laid  out  by  Messrs.  Scribner,  its  proprietors,  in  1814.  Being  lo- 
cated on  the  second  bank  of  the  river,  it  was  found  satisfactory  from 
the  standpoint  of  healthfulness,  and  within  half  a  dozen  years  it 
had  come  to  have  a  population  of  one  thousand.  Thereafter  its 
growth  was  slow  but  steady. 


Indiana  and  Kentucky  159 

These  houses  are  more  comfortable  than  Inns, 
and  are  generally  a  little  cheaper.  You  take  your 
Meals  with  the  family,  —  retire  into  the  strangers' 
room,  as  soon  as  the  meal  is  over,  —  and  generally 
the  master  of  the  house  follows  to  chat  with  you. 
You  are  not  expected  to  call  for  liquors;  which, 
indeed,  are  not  often  kept  in  the  house.  ..  ..  .* 

To  avoid  sleeping  with  a  bedfellow  in  a  small 
bed,  I  wrapped  myself  up  in  my  blanket  and  laid 
on  my  great  coat  and  Saddle  bags  before  the  fire. 
This  arrangement  disconcerted  two  Negro  slaves, 
who  had  chosen  that  place  for  themselves.  I 
obliged  them  to  sleep  at  some  distance. 

Negroes  are  never  supplied  with  more  bedding 
than  a  blanket  and  the  Kitchen  or  dining  room  floor. 
This  too  in  Kentucky;  which  is  the  Paradise  of 
slaves,  compared  with  the  Southern  States. 

Jany.  3Oth.  — We  passed  through  a  fertile  country, 
well  settled,  but  with  miserably  bad  roads  by  Mid- 
dleton,2  to  the  flourishing  little  town  of  Shelby ville, 
in  Shelby  County.3 

Here  we  met,  at  a  good  Inn,  a  large  party  of  rich 
farmers  and  Merchants,  all  busy  talking  politics. 

1  "A  page  of  the  Journal  here  has  been  lost.  The  next  day  the 
Author  and  his  companion  proceeded  on  their  journey  and  arrived 
at  night  at  another  house  of  entertainment."  —  TRANSCRIBER. 

2Middleton  is  situated  on  the  headwaters  of  Bear  Grass  Creek, 
twelve  miles  east  of  Louisville  and  twenty  west  of  Shelbyville. 

3Shelbyville  and  Shelby  County  take  their  names  from  Isaac 
Shelby,  first  governor  of  the  state  of  Kentucky  and  one  of  the 
most  notable  personages  in  early  Western  history.  Shelbyville  is 
thirty  miles  east  of  Louisville  and  twenty  west  of  Frankfort.  Melish, 
in  1811,  gives  it  a  population  of  424  (Travels,  ii,  p.  179).  Faux, 
in  1818,  describes  it  as  a  "good-looking,  youthful  town"  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xi,  p.  195). 


160  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

The  Landlord,  finding  I  was  an  Englishman,  in- 
vited me  to  spend  the  evening  with  his  wife  and 
daughters.  I  found  them  handsome  and  agreeable 
women.  Our  charge  for  Supper,  breakfast,  and 
horsefeed  was  $i,75cents.  Hostler  &  boots  got, 
25°.  Dearer  travelling  than  in  Indiana,  where  a 
dollar  per  day  will  pay  all  the  expences. 
They  may  be  stated  thus: 

In  Indiana  In  Kentucky 

Cents  Cents 

Breakfast       .       .       .     12^  .       .     25 

Horsefeed      .       .       .     12^2  .        . 

D°.  at  noon         .        .     12^2  .        . 

Supper  &  horsefeed     .     62^  .       .1,00 


The  above  are  the  charges  at  houses  of  private 
entertainment.  At  good  taverns  the  charges  are 
at  least  50  pr.  Cent  higher.  If  the  badness  of  the 
roads,  in  the  Winter,  is  taken  into  consideration, 
travelling  at  this  Season  is  dearer  than  in  England ; 
for  you  cannot  get  half  the  distance  in  the  same 
time. 

In  Summer  the  roads  are,  in  general,  good  for 
travelling  on  horseback. 

Jany.    31**.      Started    for    Frankfort.1      Passed 

1  The  site  of  Frankfort  was  first  surveyed  in  1773  for  the  McAfee 
brothers.  In  October,  1786,  it  was  purchased  by  James  Wilkinson 
(see  p.  62,  note),  who  had  secured  the  passage  of  a  bill  in  the 
Virginia  Assembly  to  erect  a  town  upon  it.  The  place  was  selected 
in  1793  to  be  the  capital  of  the  new  state.  Cuming  visited  it  in 
1807  and  found  a  town  of  ninety  houses,  including  a  state-house, 
a  jail,  a  court-house,  a  state  penitentiary,  a  market-house,  a  gov- 


Indiana  and  Kentucky  161 

through  a  fine  rolling  country;  cleared  enough  to 
present  something  like  views ;  though  none  of  them 
of  any  extent. 

Frankfort  is  a  smart  little  town,  on  the  Kentucky 
river.  It  is  the  seat  of  Government ;  and  the  Legis- 
lature is  now  sitting. 

It  was  Sunday,  and  a  few  smartly  dressed  young 
men  were  picking  their  way  through  the  half  frozen 
mud  in  the  streets.  Like  others  it  is  hid  in  a  mud 
hole,  with  fine  commanding  situations  around  it. 
They  have  begun  to  pave  the  Main  Street  —  in  a 
way  that  would  make  a  London  Paviour  laugh. 

The  Kentucky  River  pours  a  noble  stream  over 
a  bed  of  Limestone.  It  is  crossed  by  a  wooden 
bridge  supported  by  four  stone  piers.1  There  is  a 
good  view  from  the  Eastern  bank,  which  rises 
abruptly,  perhaps  TOO  feet,  above  the  bed  of  the 
river.  Its  circuitous  course  winds  among  steep 
bluffs,  south  of  the  Towjn.  In  the  plain  above  are 
several  smart  houses,  pleasantly  situated.  They 
look  like  the  places  of  Summer  retreat,  in  which 
the  Citizens  of  London  indulge  themselves  on  Sun- 
days. 

ernment  house,  and  four  inns  which  in  size,  accommodations,  and 
business  he  declares  were  not  surpassed  in  the  United  States  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  pp.  191-196).  Travellers  generally  compared 
Frankfort  with  Lexington,  favorably  as  a  rule  to  the  former  except 
in  the  matter  of  commercial  facilities.  See  Faux,  Memorable  Days 
(EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xi,  p.  174)  and  Welby,  Visit  to  North 
America  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xii,  pp.  222-225). 

1  Cuming,  in  1807,  says :  "  The  erection  of  a  permanent  wooden 
bridge  over  the  Kentucky  has  been  lately  commenced,  which  will  be 
about  one  hundred  and  forty  yards  long  from  bank  to  bank,  the 
surface  of  which  is  about  fifty  feet  above  low  water  mark.  The 
present  bridge  of  boats  is  about  sixty-five  yards  between  the  abut- 
ments, and  the  river  now  at  low  water  is  eighty-seven  yards  wide  " 
(EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  p.  193). 


162  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

Five  miles  further,  we  put  up  at  Mr.  B s' 

house.  A  respectable  and  venerable  man,  who  has 
been  thirty  four  years  in  Kentucky.  His  lady  was 
complaining  bitterly  of  the  Mai-practices  of  their 
State  Legislature,  of  their  taxes  &c,  though  the 
latter  are  nothing  more  than  County  rates. 

Monday  Feby.  2d.  Took  leave  of  Captn.  B 

who  was  going  to  Lexington,1  crossing  Elk  horn 
creek,2  and  struck  N.W.  among  the  Eagle  creek 
hills.8  I  soon  left  the  fertile  plains  of  Kentucky. 

*The  traditional  story  of  the  origin  of  Lexington  (as  told,  for 
example,  in  Melish's  Travels,  ii,  p.  187,  and  accepted  in  Winsor's 
Westward  Movement,  p.  85)  to  the  effect  that  the  first  log  cabins  at 
the  place  were  built  in  1775  and  given  the  name  Lexington  in 
honor  of  the  battle  lately  fought  between  the  Americans  and  British, 
can  hardly  be  regarded  as  true.  It  appears  that  there  was  no  per- 
manent settlement  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  before  1779.  In 
1780  the  new  town  was  made  the  seat  of  Fayette  County  and  two 
years  later,  it  was  incorporated  by  the  legislature  of  Virginia.  Fran- 
c.ois  Andre  Michaux  has  a  good  description  of  the  place  in  1802 
(EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iii,  pp.  199-206).  Cuming,  in  1807, 
writes  a  very  full  account  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  iv,  pp.  181- 
189).  He  estimates  the  town's  population  at  three  thousand  and 
has  nothing  but  praise  for  its  schools  (including  Transylvania  Uni- 
versity), churches,  stores,  and  manufacturing  enterprises.  Melish, 
in  1811,  gives  some  interesting  information  {Travels,  ii,  pp.  185- 
190).  Two  visitors  in  the  year  1818  record  the  most  contrary 
impressions :  Faux  declares  that  every  public  building  in  the  city, 
save  that  of  the  University,  was  filthy,  neglected,  and  falling  into 
ruins,  and  that  though  the  place  still  contained  the  cream  of  Ken- 
tucky society  it  was  thought  to  be  retrograding  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  xi,  p.  188)  ;  but  William  Tell  Harris  was  charmed  with 
all  that  he  saw,  and  wrote  that  Lexington  was  "  a  spot  so  much 
more  pleasant,  as  well  as  more  central,  that  it  appears  difficult  to 
conceive  what  could  have  induced  the  transfer  of  the  legislative  priv- 
ilege to  Frankfort,  unless  it  be  a  supposed  advantage  in  its  being 
washed  by  the  waters  of  the  Kentucky"  {Remarks,  pp.  145-146). 
George  W.  Ranck's  History  of  Lexington  (Lexington,  1872)  is  a 
fairly  good  work  of  its  kind. 

2Elkhorn  Creek,  on  a  branch  of  which  Lexington  is  situated,  flows 
into  the  Kentucky  River  in  Franklin  County,  about  eight  miles 
north  of  Frankfort. 

8  Eagle  Creek  Hills  are  in  the  region  north  of  Shelbyville  and 
twenty  to  thirty  miles  west  of  Frankfort. 


Indiana  and  Kentucky  163' 

The  roads  have  been  so  bad,  that  my  horse  has 
been  for  two  days  much  fatigued.  Today  he  gave 
out,  and  I  with  difficulty  got  him  through  the  wil- 
derness. I  arrived  at  the  house  I  am  now  writing 
in,  and  as  the  people  seem  to  be  civil  and  courteous, 
I  shall  rest  tomorrow. 

A  Traveller,  who  has  been  four  or  five  months 
in  the  wildernesses  of  the  Illinois  Territory,  or  the 
gloomy  forests  of  Indiana,  is  delighted  with  the 
fine  clearings  of  the  Kentucky  farms.  Yet  these 
seldom  extend  half  a  mile  from  the  road,  and  that 
the  most  public  one  from  Louisville  to  Lexington. 
Hence  there  are  seldom  any  views  that  can  be  called 
picturesque  in  that  tract  of  country  which  lies  with- 
in 50  miles  of  Ohio.  There  are  some  that  are 
grand  and  solemn  among  the  hills,  but  in  the  rich 
country,  the  stumps  of  trees  in  the  fields,  the  worm 
rail-fences  running  in  straight  lines,  and  even  the 
forests,  with  their  rigid  outlines  as  left  by  the  axe, 
have  little  of  beauty  and  still  less  of  the  picturesque. 
It  is  the  feeling  that  he  is  surrounded  by  the  dwell- 
ings of  man,  that  cheers  the  lonely  traveller. 

The  Kentuckians1  have  the  character  of  being 
the  best  warriors  of  the  United  States.  As  far  as 
courage  without  conduct  can  make  them  soldiers, 
they  are  deserving  of  this  praise. 

1  Other  accounts  of  the  life  and  society  of  Kentucky  in  the  early 
part  of  the  last  century  are  F.  A.  Michaux,  Travels  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  Hi,  p.  222,  ff.) ;  Cuming,  Sketches  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  iv,  p.  165,  ff.)  ;  Melish,  Travels,  ii,  pp.  202-208;  Fearon, 
Sketches,  pp.  237-255;  Flint,  Letters  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS, 
ix,  p.  132,  ff.)  ;  Faux,  Memorable  Days  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS, 
xi,  p.  188,  ff.)  ;  and  Ogden,  Letters  from  the  West  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  xix,  pp.  04-102).  Cf.,  pp.  177-181  and  214-216  of  this  volume. 


164  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

They  pride  themselves  on  their  veracity  and 
honour. 

In  their  persons  they  are  large,  and  generally 
handsome,  but  are  too  much  inclined  to  corpulency. 

Tuesday  and  Wednesday.  My  horse  being  un- 
able to  proceed,  I  staid  two  days  at  Mr.  T 's, 

a  Kentucky  farmer  of  the  middle  class.  He  works 
himself  and  employs  two  Negroes.  Every  thing 
around  him  bespoke  comfort  and  moderate  wealth. 
Yet  he  has  cultivated  his  own  land  among  these 
hills  only  10  years.  His  farm  is  productive,  though 
far  from  being  so  rich  as  the  level  plains. 

He  talks  of  moving  out  to  the  Illinois  Territory. 

Feby.  5th.  Thursday.  Rode  to  Mr.  H 's  Tav- 
ern, with  whom  I  spent  a  most  agreeable  evening. 
He  rents  a  farm  for  which  he  pays  one  third  of  the 
produce.  He  talked  of  mechanics,  and  is  going  to 
erect  a  carding  machine. 

Feby.  6th.  Friday.  Rode  to  Mr.  G 's.  At 

this  house  I  met  Mr.  S ,  a  member  of  the  Sen- 
ate, and  other  interesting  gentlemen. 

The  bridge  of  Frankfort  cost  40,000$.  One  is 
projected  over  the  mouth  of  Licking  at  Newport,1 
which  will  cost  as  much.  Another  is  talked  of  to  be 
thrown  over  the  Ohio,  at  the  expense  of  300,000$. 

xThe  Licking  River  rises  in  south-eastern  Kentucky,  near  the 
sources  of  the  Cumberland  and  Kentucky.  It  flows  through  a  course 
of  some  two  hundred  miles,  but  is  of  slight  value  for  navigation 
during  all  but  two  months  of  the  year.  Newport,  the  seat  of  Camp- 
bell County,  was  platted  in  1791  by  General  James  Taylor,  a  re- 
cent emigrant  from  Caroline  County,  Virginia.  It  was  incorporated 
and  made  seat  of  justice  in  1795,  and  in  1803  the  Government  se- 
lected it  as  a  location  for  an  arsenal.  Covington,  on  the  west  bank 
of  the  Licking,  opposite  Newport,  was  founded  in  1815. 


Indiana  and  Kentucky  165 

Feby.  fh.  Crossed  the  Ohio  and  arrived  at  Cin- 
cinnati.1 Called  on  my  friend  .  Told  him 

my  wish  to  obtain  private  lodgings;  which  he  got 
for  me  in  a  most  respectable  quaker  family.  He 
offered  me  too,  his  interest  in  the  Library  of  Cin- 
cinnati. 

Feby.  23*.  The  City  Guards,  who  are  a  uniform 
company  of  volunteers,  are  parading  the  town  in 
celebration  of  the  birthday  of  Washington,  which 
fell  yesterday  on  Sunday. 

A  grand  ball  will  be  given  tonight,  to  which  I 
shall  not  go,  as  I  do  not  choose  the  risk  of  being 
insulted  by  any  vulgar  Ohioans.  .  .  . 

I  send  you  a  map  of  the  Illinois  territory.  It  is 
tolerably  correct,  being  taken  from  the  Office  Map. 

Feby.  26th.  We  have  had  a  launch  of  a  Steam 
boat  today  of  150  Tons  burthen.  It  was  a  beauti- 
ful sight;  she  plunged  bows  under,  as  the  bilge 
way  was  at  the  lowest  end  eight  feet  above  the 
water. 


1  On  Cincinnati,  see  p.  183,  note. 


IX 

A  trip  across  the  Wabash  in  search  of  land  —  A  night  in  the  woods 
—  The  people  of  Indiana  —  The  Kentuckians. 

At  a  farm  house  among  the  Eagle  Creek  Hills; 
50  miles  West  from  Frankfort,  Kentucky. 

Feb\  3.  1818. 

As  general  descriptions  of  Countries  give  always 
vague  and  unsatisfactory  ideas,  I  will  fill  up  this 
sheet  with  extracts  from  [my]  Journal,  which  I 
hope  will  be  amusing.  You  will  keep  in  mind,  the 
truth  of  a  picture  depends  much  upon  the  slightest 
touches,  and  that  resemblance  cannot  be  produced 
but  by  attention  to  minutiee. 

Soon  after  my  return  from  Cincinnati  in  Sep- 
tember, I  went  across  the  Wabash  to  seek  some 
good  timbered  land.  I  went  alone  on  horseback, 
carrying  my  American  Rifle,  which  is  a  long  gun, 
weighing  10  Ibs,  and  shoots  a  bullet  of  l/±  oz 
weight.  I  had  a  clean  shirt  and  stockings  in  my 
saddle  bags,  and  provisions  for  four  days ;  a  bag  of 
Indian  corn  for  my  horse,  a  blanket,  a  cloak,  and 
tin  cup;  a  pocket  compass,  a  map  of  the  country, 
a  large  hunting  Knife,  and  a  hatchet. 

The  first  day's  ride  brought  me  to  a  swampy,  flat 
prairie,  which  I  crossed  just  as  the  sun  went  down. 
I  turned  into  a  thick  wood,  where  the  trees  were 
small  and  close  together.  I  was  then  a  poor  woods- 
man, or  I  should  have  chosen  a  better  place.  I 
lighted  a  fire  with  brush  wood,  and  then  began  cut- 
ting down  some  small  trees. 


Notes  in  Kentucky  167 

I  had  nearly  finished  the  second,  when  my  hatchet 
flew  off  the  handle.  During  the  time  I  spent  in 
looking  in  vain  for  it,  the  fire  went  out  and  it  got 
quite  dark. 

I  was  in  a  bad  fix,  as  they  say  in  the  back  woods. 
However,  I  made  the  best  of  it;  fed  my  horse,  eat 
my  supper,  and  wrapped  myself  up  warm,  hugging 
my  gun  in  my  blanket.  I  lay  listening  a  good 
while,  and  had  fallen  into  a  doze,  when  my  horse 
snorted,  and  my  dog  jumped  up,  and  I  heard  some- 
thing rush  through  the  woods  at,  perhaps,  100 
yards  distance.  All  was  still  again, — but  the  winds 
whistling  through  the  trees,  and  now  and  then  a 
wolf  howling  afar  off.  I  lay  down  again,  and  soon 
fell  asleep. 

The  next  morning  I  struck  a  path  which  led  to 
a  Cabin  where  I  breakfasted  on  hominy  and  honey, 
and  proceeded  across  the  Boon-pas,  up  the  long 
Prairie  2  miles.  I  then  took  the  woods,  and,  after 
struggling  five  hours  among  grape  vines  and 
creeks,  I  found  some  Whiteoak  timbered  land  near 
our  prairie.  I  ran  the  section  line,  then  crossed  the 

prairie  to  the  North  end,  and  reached  Mr.  E. 

at  dark. 

The  next  day  I  found  still  better  land,  well  tim- 
bered. Found  the  section  line  and  started  off  for 
Shawnee  town,  which  I  reached  in  two  days. 

Here  I  entered  land;  and  soon  after  went  again 
to  the  Prairie  to  get  a  cabin  built,  and  returned  to 
Shawnee.  .  .  . 

I  hope  you  will  not  think  this  letter  is  filled  with 


1 68  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

matter  unworthy  of  being  sent  across  the  Atlantic. 
These  minute  descriptions  alone  can  give  you  an 
idea  of  these  wildernesses. 

The  farmers  of  Indiana  generally  arrive  in  the 
country  very  poor,  but  somehow  they  get  a  great 
deal  of  property  very  soon.  They  all  work,  and 
there  are  not  half  so  many  labourers  for  hire,  as 
there  are  farmers.  The  former  live  with  their  em- 
ployers, and  are  their  equals,  if  they  are  men  of 
good  character ;  which  is  not  always  the  case.  The 
hunters  have  more  politeness,  and  I  think  more  of 
virtue  and  hospitality  than  the  farmers.  The  worse 
set  are  boatmen,  and  petty  traders  in  horses  and 
whisky,  who  live  on  the  banks  of  rivers.  Some  of 
these  are  connected  with  horse  stealers  and  forg- 
ers, and  are  the  pests  of  a  rising  society.  The  new 
towns  on  the  frontiers  generally  are  inhabited  by 
these  men,  till  they  rise  into  importance;  when  the 
scamps  move  off.  Though  we  have  rascals  even 
here,  yet  the  tone  of  morals  is  higher  on  the  fron- 
tiers, than  among  men  of  the  same  station  in  Eng- 
land. They  are  either  very  good  or  openly  bad  in 
these  back  woods. 

I  do  not  think  much  can  be  said  in  praise  of  the 
daughters  of  Indiana;  they  are  completely  desti- 
tute of  education.  Not  so,  the  Kentucky  women. 
From  the  little  I  have  seen  and  the  much  I  have 
heard,  I  judge  they  are  the  most  spirited  women  in 
the  world.  They  are  exceedingly  fond  of  dress, 
and  are  generally  very  handsome.  But  Kentucky 


Notes  in  Kentucky  169 

is  growing  very  rich,  and  the  people  are  becoming 
very  proud. 

I  shall  reserve  my  observations  on  Kentucky  for 
a  future  letter,  and  likewise  a  geographical  and 
statistical  sketch  of  the  South  Eastern  section  of 
the  Illinois  Territory.1 

Either  Kentucky  or  Illinois  must  be  the  abode 
of  an  English  farmer.  In  the  one  he  will  find  an 
agreeable  society,  in  the  other  there  is  none,  and 
he  will  give  to  it,  as  it  rises,  a  tint  of  his  own  man- 
ners. 

Cincinnati.  Feby.  14**.  .  .  .  Land  has  been 
sold  near  this  town  for  200$  per  acre. — 45£.  The 
people  cannot  be  poor  who  buy  or  sell  such  land. 
Yet  twenty-two  years  ago,  this  land  was  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Indians,  and  the  few  white  men  who 
lived  here,  dared  not  leave  their  fort.  Still  if  it 
were  not  for  Slavery,  Kentucky  or  Virginia  would 
be  the  countries  for  English  Gentlemen.  A  Ken- 
tuckian  is  an  Englishman  with  a  little  more  pride. 

1  For  the  promised  observations  on  Kentucky  see  pp.  177-181, 
and  pp.  214-216.  There  does  not  appear  in  the  manuscript  any  sys- 
tematic sketch  of  the  Illinois  Territory,  but  much  valuable  informa- 
tion and  comment  is  given  incidentally  here  and  there. 


X 

The  Americanizing  of  emigrants  —  Attitude  of  Westerners  toward 
Englishmen — Prospective  peace  with  the  southern  Indians  — 
Emigration  to  Missouri  —  Mr.  Birkbeck's  estate  —  Fordham's 
farm  —  Opportunities  for  men  with  capital  —  Respect  for  edu- 
cation and  manners. 

Cincinnati  Feby.  18.  1818. 

I  TAKE  a  hasty  opportunity  of  sending  you  a  few 
lines  by  a  gentleman  who  is  going  to  Scotland  from 
this  place.  He  will  start  tomorrow  morning  early; 
and  I  have  to  give  a  dozen  orders  to  Engineer, 
Smiths  and  founders  in  the  course  of  the  day;  so 
you  will  excuse  a  very  hastily  written  scrawl. 

We  are  all  in  good  health  and  spirits,  and  are 
more  accustomed  to  American  manners;  —  there- 
fore more  comfortable.  It  is  useless  for  Emigrants 
to  think  of  retaining  English  manners  or  English 
feelings,  in  this  country  of  liberty  and  equality. 
But,  to  do  the  Americans  justice,  they  respect  the 
love,  which  every  man  of  generous  feeling  has  for 
his  native  country,  and  they  are  pretty  in  express- 
ing their  contempt  of  a  Renegado.  There  are  too 
many  of  this  character;  and  I  have  been  more  hurt 
by  their  conduct,  than  by  all  the  rudeness  of  the 
Ohioans,  or  the  pride  and  haughtiness  of  Kentuck- 
ians. 

The  Western  Americans  generally  feel  great 
hostility  to  the  British  Government,  but  towards 
the  English  Emigrants,  they  are,  with  few  excep- 
tions, kind  and  hospitable.  They  are  in  most  re- 
spects different  from  their  brethren  in  the  East,  for 


Settlement  in  the  West  171 

whom  they  do  not  entertain  much  respect  or  affec- 
tion. 

Military  courage  is  here  considered  to  be  the 
prince  of  all  the  virtues.  Even  quakers  talk  like 
soldiers,  and  frequently  the  younger  members  turn 
out  with  their  fellow  citizens. 

The  Indians  in  the  South,  who  were  making  a 
great  head  against  Gen.  Gaines,  have  now  proposed 
a  friendly  talk,  and,  probably,  peace  will  be  con- 
cluded before  this  reaches  you.  I  am  glad  of  this, 
because  there  was  some  danger  of  the  spirit  of  hos- 
tility spreading  among  the  tribes  who  live  on  the 
Western  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  and  the  North- 
ern tribes.  In  that  case  we  must  have  fortified  our 
dwellings;  and  we  young  men,  though  not  called 
upon  by  law,  should  have  looked  small  if  we  had 
not  volunteered. 

The  prophet  chief,  brother  of  Tecumseh,1  is  still 
living  beyond  the  Missouri.  The  Missouri  Terri- 
tory is  peopling  so  fast,  that  very  soon  our  country 


1  The  Prophet  was  a  Shawnee  warrior,  known  in  early  life  as 
Lawlewasikaw,  but  after  assuming  the  prophetic  role  in  1805  as 
Pemsquatawah.  With  this  change  of  name  and  profession  he  began 
to  make  himself  conspicuous  by  declaiming  against  witchcraft,  the 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  intermarriage  with  the  whites,  and  the 
selling  of  Indian  lands  to  the  United  States.  Late  in  1805,  or  early 
in  1806,  he  and  his  brother  Tecumseh  removed  from  the  Delaware 
villages  on  the  west  fork  of  White  River  (in  present  Delaware 
County,  Indiana)  to  Greenville,  Ohio ;  and  in  the  spring  of  1808 
they  gained  permission  of  the  Pottawattamies  and  Kickapoos  to  settle 
on  the  Wabash  near  the  mouth  of  the  Tippecanoe,  at  a  place  which 
afterwards  bore  the  name  of  the  Prophet's  Town.  While  the 
Prophet's  fame  and  influence  grew  among  the  tribes  of  northwestern 
Indiana,  Tecumseh  busied  himself  with  efforts  to  unite  these  tribes 
in  one  great  confederacy  on  the  basis  of  a  common  resistance  to  the 
encroachments  of  the  whites.  Relations  between  the  Indian  leaders 
and  the  representatives  of  the  national  government,  chiefly  Governor 
William  Henry  Harrison,  became  more  and  more  strained,  until  in 


172  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

will  be  backed  up  on  that  side.  The  banks  of  the 
Okaw1  and  the  Little  Muddy,2  about  80  miles  west- 
ward of  us,  are  entering  very  fast,  though  unluck- 
ily by  Speculators,  as  well  as  settlers.  We  have  as 
yet,  however,  been  fortunate  enough  to  keep  the 
former  away  from  our  immediate  neighbourhood. 

An  English  gentleman  of  fortune,  a  Mr.  Q , 

is  gone  down  the  river  with  his  family,  with  the 
intention  of  buying  land  close  to  us. 

Mr.  Birkbeck  is  laying  out  a  farm  of  1600  acres 
in  the  midst  of  his  Estate  of  4000  acres.  He  has 
entered  the  whole  of  the  Bolton  house  prairie;  with 
the  exception  of  three  quarters  on  the  South  West 
side,  and  one  quarter  on  the  North  side  of  Mr. 
Flower's  land,  which  I  have  entered  for  myself. 

My  little  Estate  lies  on  and  between  two  small 
hills,  from  which  descend  several  small  streams, 
that  unite  in  the  valley  and  flow  on  through  the 
prairie.  An  arm  of  the  prairie  runs  up  this  valley 
and  extends  itself  on  the  heights  somewhat  in  this 
shape.8  I  suppose  I  have  about  100  acres  of  meadow 
and  60  of  timber  land.  The  timber  is  white  oak, 

1811  the  crisis  came  in  the  noted  battle  of  Tippecanoe  in  which  the 
Indians  were  defeated  and  the  confederacy  shattered.  Tecumseh 
joined  the  British  the  following  year  and  was  killed  in  the  battle 
of  the  Thames,  October  5,  1813.  The  Prophet  removed  to  the 
Indian  country  on  the  western  side  of  the  Mississippi,  where  he 
died  in  1834.  A  good  account  of  the  careers  of  these  rather  re- 
markable redskins  will  be  found  in  John  B.  Dillon's  History  of 
Indiana  (Indianapolis,  1859),  pp.  423-553  passim. 

'The  Okaw  is  a  small  tributary  of  the  Kaskaskia,  in  Washing- 
ton  County,   Illinois. 

2  The  Little  Muddy  flows  into  the  Big  Muddy  in  the  eastern  part 
of  Jackson  County,  Illinois.    The  Big  Muddy  enters  the  Mississippi 
in  northwestern  Union  County. 

3  See  sketch  on  opposite  page. 


Settlement  in  the  West 


173 


walnut,  and  Hickory. 
There  are  some  Per- 
simmons,  a  most  de- 
-y  licious  fruit,  growing 
on  straight  and  rather 
lofty  trees,  a  good 
many  grapes  and 
hazels. 

I  am  getting  the  iron  work  for  a  wind-mill,  and 
other  machinery.  Iron  costs  i2l/2  cts.  per  Ib,  and 
the  working  is  charged  at  12^  cts.  more.  I  have 
bought  anvils,  bellows,  and  all  the  tools  of  a  Black- 
smith's, Millwright's,  and  Carpenter's  shop.  I  can 
get  work  done  here  as  well  as  in  London  at  from 
50  to  100  per  Cent  advance  upon  London  prices. 

I  am  going  down  the  river  in  a  boat  of  which  I 
shall  take  the  command.  I  went  down  last  Au- 
tumn in  two  boats,  in  one  of  which  I  had  two 
horses.  To  confess  the  truth  I  nearly  lost  the 
boats  and  all  the  property  would  have  been  gone, 
if  my  lads  had  not  made  uncommon  exertions.  It 
was  in  the  night  and  a  most  tremendous  thunder 
storm  came  on.  The  intervals  between  the  flashes 
of  lightning  were  so  dark  that  we  could  not  see 
some  rocks,  which  we  ran  foul  of,  and  hung  to  all 
night. 

I  am  boarding  in  a  very  respectable  quaker  fam- 
ily, who  do  not  in  general  take  in  boarders.  But  I 
was  recommended  by  a  gentleman  of  this  town, 
with  whom  I  had  travelled,  and  to  whom  we  are  all 
well  known.  Introductions  into  respectable  fami- 


174  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

lies  are  as  necessary  in  this  country  as  in  any  other ; 
and  as  much  is  thought  of  steadiness  of  conduct, 
though  more  latitude  is  given  to  speech. 

I  have  consciously  avoided  giving  to  my  young 
friends  in  England  coloured  descriptions  of  this 
country:  but  I  must  beg  leave  to  assure  you  —  that 
you  cannot  do  a  greater  favour  to  any  young  man, 
who  possesses  from  8oo£  to  5,ooo£,  with  a  proper 
degree  of  spirit,  than  by  sending  him  out  here.  But 
if  he  has  no  money,  if  he  knows  no  mechanical 
trade,  and  if  he  cannot  work,  —  he  had  better  stay 
in  a  Counting  house  in  England. 

Any  young  man,  who  wishes  to  marry,  but  dare 
not  enter  into  business  and  the  expences  of  a  family 
in  England,  if  he  can  command  looof,  may  choose 
his  trade  here.  If  he  is  a  plain  working  farmer, 
5oof  will  make  him  more  independent  than  an  Eng- 
lish gentleman  with  iooo£  per  annum. 

An  Emigrant  who  is  rich,  may  settle  near  a  large 
town ;  find  society,  libraries,  and  a  great  many  com- 
forts. If  he  does  not  object  to  holding  Slaves,  Ken- 
tucky offers  him  great  advantages.  But  if  he  is 
not  rich,  or  is  ambitious,  —  the  Illinois  and  Missouri 
Territory,  and,  from  what  I  have  heard,  I  may  say, 
the  Alabama  Country,  will  hold  out  advantages 
that  will  pay  him  for  all  sacrifices.1 

A  bill  is  in  Congress  for  making  a  State  of  the 
Illinois  Territory.2  We  shall  be  Citizens  as  soon 
as  it  passes,  and  eligible  I  believe  to  any  office. 

1  For  more  extended  observations  on  the  various  regions  which 
held  out  inducements  to  European  emigrants  see  pp.  227-228. 
2 In  January,  1818,  the  legislature  of  Illinois,  through  Nathaniel 


Settlement  in  the  West  175 

Men  of  Education  and  Manners  are  much  re- 
spected ;  and  there  is  a  large  proportion  of  the  peo- 
ple, who  have  a  great  deal  of  information;  which 
though  acquired  more  by  conversation  and  obser- 
vation, than  by  reading,  makes  them  good  judges  of 
character,  and  enables  them  to  value  literary  and 
scientific  acquirements. 

I  have  had  interest  offered  me  to  procure  an  elec- 
tion to  a  command  in  a  Militia  regiment  in  In- 
diana; but  I  have  declined  the  offer.  .  .  . 

Pope,  the  territorial  delegate,  petitioned  Congress  for  admission 
to  the  Union.  On  the  following  eighteenth  of  April  Congress 
passed  the  desired  act  enabling  the  people  of  the  territory  to  frame 
a  constitution  and  establish  a  state  government.  A  noteworthy 
feature  of  this  act  was  the  provision  that  the  northern  boundary  of 
the  new  state  should  be  the  line  40°  30'  N.  Lat. —  a  provision  se- 
cured by  the  efforts  of  Pope,  who  saw  that  if  a  line  drawn  through 
the  southernmost  point  of  Lake  Michigan  were  made  the  boundary, 
as  it  had  been  assumed  would  be  the  case,  the  valuable  port  of 
Chicago  would  be  lost  to  some  state  yet  to  be  constituted  on  the 
north.  The  new  line  is  about  forty  miles  further  north  than  the 
old  one  and  the  fourteen  Illinois  counties  lying  wholly  or  in  part 
between  the  two  were  regarded  by  not  a  few  Wisconsin  people  of  a 
generation  ago  as  wrongfully  attached  to  the  commonwealth  on  the 
south.  August  26,  1818,  a  convention  met  at  the  capital,  Kaskaskia, 
and  framed  a  constitution,  which  was  duly  ratified.  Shadrach  Bond, 
a  Marylander  who  had  settled  in  Illinois  at  an  early  date,  was  elected 
first  governor  of  the  state.  He  assumed  the  duties  of  the  office  in 
October,  1818.  In  this  same  month  the  legislature  had  its  first 
session  and  Ninian  Edwards  and  Jesse  B.  Thomas  were  elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate.  During  an  adjourned  session,  in  the  winter 
of  1818-19,  a  code  of  laws  (borrowed  in  the  main  from  the  codes 
of  Virginia  and  Kentucky)  was  adopted  and  commissioners  were 
appointed  to  select  a  site  for  a  new  capital.  The  result  of  the 
latter  act  was  the  choice  of  Vandalia,  occupied  in  1821  (see  p.  104, 
note  i). 


XI 

The  people  of  Virginia  —  The  Kentuckians  —  The  winning  of  Ken- 
tucky from  the  Indians  —  The  work  of  Daniel  Boone  —  Sensa- 
tions experienced  in  the  wilderness  —  Nature  of  Indian  war- 
fare —  Cassidy's  achievements  —  Manner  of  life  of  a  wealthy 
Kentucky  farmer  —  Society  inchoate  in  the  Illinois  Country  — 
The  farming  class  —  The  hunters. 

Cincinnati  Feby.  26.  1818. 

HAVING  an  opportunity  of  sending  a  letter  by  a 
private  conveyance,  I  seize  it  with  avidity,  because 
I  have  great  hope  you  will  receive  it  safe.  The 
post  offices  of  this  Western  Country  are  so  ill  con- 
ducted that  it  is  quite  discouraging. 

I  need  not  tell  you  what  we  are  doing,  for  Mr. 
Birkbeck's  book1  has  told  you  already.  We  are 
proceeding  steadily,  though  slowly.  .  .  . 

Now  I  will  tell  you  a  little  of  what  I  have  seen 
and  learnt;  and  that  I  may  give  you  my  ideas  un- 
disturbed, and  fresh  from  my  mind,  I  will  not  affect 
any  sort  of  arrangement. 

I  have  seen  but  little  of  Virginia.  The  men  of 
education  and  wealth  are  much  like  English  Coun- 
try gentlemen,  about  as  refined  and  nearly  as  proud. 
The  young  men  are  irascible  but  goodnatured. 
They  are,  however,  rude  and  greedy  in  their  man- 
ners at  public  tables  to  a  most  shameful  degree. 

The  women  are  pretty,  languishing,  made-up 
misses.  Their  chief  pleasures  seem  to  be  in  dress- 
ing well  and  in  combing  their  long  fair  hair.  They 

1  Fordham  here  refers  to  Birkbeck's  Notes  on  a  Journey  Jin  Amer- 
ica from  the  Coast  of  Virginia  to  the  Territory  of  Illinois  (Phil- 
adelphia, 1817). 


Virginia,  Kentucky,  Indiana  177 

have  most  beautiful  hair,  and  are  generally  much 
fairer  than  English  women.  Like  the  men,  they 
are  tall  and  thin;  but  they  have  not  the  intelligent 
look  of  the  former. 

Kentucky,  which  is  the  daughter  of  Virginia, 
has  fewer  men  of  literary  tastes  and  habits,  but 
more  men  of  enterprise,  both  commercial  and  mili- 
tary. Their  military  enthusiasm  scarcely  knows 
any  limit.  They  are,  without  doubt,  very  brave, 
but  the  men  of  other  States  say  they  are  not  steady. 
It  is  certain  that  thev  have  in  the  late  war  been  at 

•r 

times  most  unaccountably  panic-struck. 

Kentucky,  or  "bloody  field,"  was  won  inch  by 
inch  from  the  Indians;  —  by  a  few  enterprising 
men,  unaided  by  governments,  unorganized,  for  the 
most  part  poor,  and  connected  merely  by  mutual 
wants  and  interests.  It  was  not  the  property  of 
any  particular  tribe  of  Savages,  but  the  disputed 
hunting  ground  of  many.  It  was  the  theatre  of 
their  wars ;  —  and  was  won  from  them  by  Boon  and 
his  associates  contending  with  them  in  their  own 
way. 

Daniel  Boon1  first  crossed  the  mountains  on  a 
hunting  expedition  in  1769,  accompanied  by  5  men. 
In  1772  his  force  did  not  amount  to  100  men,  and 


1  Daniel  Boone  was  born  in  1734  in  the  valley  of  the  Schuylkill  in 
Pennsylvania.  In  1757  his  family  moved  to  Buffalo  Lick,  on  the 
north  fork  of  the  Yadkin,  in  North  Carolina.  There  he  grew  to 
manhood,  becoming  a  hunter  and  backwoodsman  of  the  most  strenu- 
ous type.  In  1769,  with  five  companions,  he  pushed  westward 
through  Cumberland  Gap  and  began  the  notable  career  in  Kentucky 
which  Fordham  outlines.  His  later  years  were  spent  in  the  Mis- 
souri Territory,  which  became  more  attractive  to  him  than  Ken- 
tucky, owing  to  the  rapidity  with  which  the  latter  was  increasing  in 


178  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

in  the  interval  between  these  years  he  had  been 
living  1 8  months  in  the  wilderness  alone,  clad  in 
bear  skins,  and  often  fearing  to  light  a  fire.  He 
had  sent  away  his  Companions  for  his  family  and 
for  powder. 

You  will  never  have  a  correct  idea  of  what  a 
wilderness  is  till. you  come  to  visit  me.  It  is  no 
more  like  a  great  wood,  than  a  battle  is  like  a  re- 
view. Whatever  limits  it  may  have  on  the  map, 
however  quickly  the  eye  may  traverse  the  chart, 
or  the  imagination  may  skim  over  the  fancied  des- 
ert,—  the  traveller  and  hunter  find  impediments, 
which  give  to  him  notions  of  extension. 

To  be  at  an  unknown  distance  from  the  dwell- 
ings of  man;  to  have  pathless  forests  of  trees 
around  you;  and  intervening  rivers,  across  which 
you  must  swim  on  your  horse  or  on  a  raft,  what- 
ever be  the  temperature  of  the  water  or  the  air;  — 
the  whispering  breeze  among  the  leaves,  the  spring 
of  the  deer,  or  the  flap  of  the  Eagle's  wing  are  the 
only  sounds  you  hear  during  the  day;  and  then  to 
lie  at  night  in  a  blanket,  with  your  feet  to  a  fire, 
your  rifle  hugged  in  your  arms,  listening  to  the 
howling  wolves,  and  starting  at  the  shriek  of  the 
terrible  panther:  This  it  is  to  be  in  a  Wilderness 
alone. 

To  return  to  Daniel  Boon,  —  and  Kentucky — He 
was  twice  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians  and 

population.  The  removal  to  Missouri  seems  to  have  been  made  in 
the  spring  of  1799.  The  best  biography  of  Boone  is  Thwaites, 
Daniel  Boone  (New  York,  1902).  William  Harvey  Miner's  Daniel 
Boone:  Contribution  toward  a  Bibliography  of  Writings  concern- 
ing Daniel  Boone  (New  York,  1901)  is  useful. 


Virginia,  Kentucky,  Indiana  179 

French,  and  once  marched  to  Canada.  He  had 
been  spared  by  the  Indians  because  they  admired 
his  bravery.  He  escaped  alone,  and  returned  to 
his  fort  on  Kentucky  river.  His  wife  and  daugh- 
ters, having  been  left  by  their  husband,  who  had 
been  surprised  in  the  woods,  had  likewise  left  the 
fort  desolate.  Boon  pushed  on  across  the  Moun- 
tains to  N.  Carolina,  and  found  his  family  at  a  rela- 
tion's house. 

Battles  with  the  Indians  are  a  series  of  duels; 
it  was  so  then,  and  is  so  now.  A  brave  man  kills 
the  greatest  number,  and  it  is  nothing  to  him, 
whether  ten  are  engaged  or  a  hundred.  He  only 
looks  to  do  his  own  duty,  and  to  get  as  many  scalps 
as  he  can.  The  Kentuckians  have  adopted  the  In- 
dian custom  of  scalping  the  dead. 

Cassidy,  an  Irishman,  —  a  smaller  man,  it  is  said, 
by  people  who  know  him,  than  I  am,  —  is  the  next 
on  the  list  of  fame.1  He  has  killed  more  men  than 
Boon  has,  and  most  of  them  in  single  fights,  or  In- 
dian hunting,  as  it  is  called.  I  believe  he  is  alive 
yet.  Boon  has  a  settlement  280  miles  west  of  us, 
has  got  a  new  rifle  this  season,  —  and  is  gone  out 
to  kill  another  bear  before  he  dies :  —  he  is  80  years 
old. 


Captain.  Michael  Cassidy  was  a  native  of  Ireland  who  migrated 
to  the  United  States  in  his  youth  and  won  no  small  distinction  as  a 
soldier  in  the  Revolution.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  removed  to 
Kentucky  and  settled  at  Cassidy's  Station,  in  Fleming  County.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  noted  frontiersmen  of  his  time.  In  connection 
with  his  diminutive  stature,  to  which  Fordham  alludes,  it  may  be  said 
that  numerous  amusing  stories  are  told  regarding  his  encounters 
with  Indians,  who  thought  him  to  be  a  mere  boy  and  treated  him 
with  corresponding  condescension. 


180  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

A  wealthy  Kentucky  farmer  has  20  or  30  slaves, 
whom  he  treats  rather  like  children  than  servants, 
—  2  or  3000  acres  of  land,  500  acres  of  which  are 
cleared  and  in  cultivation.  He  lives  in  a  bad  house, 
keeps  a  plentiful  table,  which  is  covered  three  times 
a  day  with  a  great  many  dishes.  Brandy,  Whisky, 
and  Rum  are  always  standing  at  a  side  table.  He 
is  hospitable,  but  rather  ostentatious,  plain  in  his 
manners,  and  rather  grave;  a  great  politician, 
rather  apt  to  censure  than  to  praise,  and  a  rather 
bigoted  republican.  It  is  said  by  enemies,  that 
were  a  person  to  travel  through  Kentucky  and 
openly  approve  of  Monarchical  principles,  he  would 
be  stabbed.  This  is  not  true;  but  it  is  true  that 
they  are  irascible,  to  a  great  degree,  and  it  would 
not  be  wise  for  any  man  to  preach  up  even  federal, 
that  is,  tory,  principles  in  this  State. 

Nothing  is  more  common  than  for  men  in  Ken- 
tucky to  quarrel  about  politics,  and  the  pistol  used 
to  be  the  universal  resort.  But  as  almost  every 
duel  was  fatal,  the  legislature  took  effectual  means 
to  prevent  duelling.  The  dirk  is  now  generally 
worn,  and  not  unfrequently  used  in  the  lower  parts 
near  the  Tennessee  line. 

I,  however,  like  Kentucky :  —  there  is  much  to  in- 
terest me  in  its  inhabitants,  though  there  is  much 
to  disapprove. 

You  have  heard  of  the  Mammoth  Cave1  —  I  have 


1  Mammoth  Cave  is  in  Edmonson  County,  Kentucky,  about  ninety- 
five  miles  southwest  of  Louisville.  It  was  discovered  accidentally 
by  a  hunter  in  1809. 


Virginia,  Kentucky,  Indiana  181 

seen  the  skull  of  a  Mammoth  found  in  White  River 
in  Indiana  —  it  is  a  tremendous  head-piece. 

In  the  Illinois  Country,  Society  is  yet  unborn, — 
but  it  will  be  soon.  The  western  parts  toward  St. 
Louis  are  thickest  settled,  and  with  very  dissipated 
characters.  French  and  Indian  traders,  Cana- 
dians, &c,  gamblers,  horsestealers,  and  bankrupts. 
Near  us  there  are  only  a  few  farmers  and  hunters. 
Farmers,  who  till  their  own  land,  shear  their  own 
sheep,  grow  their  own  cotton  and  tobacco,  the  for- 
mer of  which  their  wives  manufacture  into  cloth- 
ing through  every  process.  They  tan  the  hides  of 
their  cattle  and  deer  skins,  and  make  them  up  into 
shoes  and  harness.  They  are  hospitable  according 
to  their  means;  but,  if  they  live  near  roads,  expect 
payment  for  food  and  lodging,  which  is  rather  de- 
manded by  travellers  than  accepted  as  a  favour. 

The  hunters  live  rather  worse,  but  are  more  en- 
tertaining and  interesting  companions.  Clothed  in 
dressed  not  tanned  buckskins:  —  a  home-made, 
homespun  hunting  shirt  outside;  —  belted  to  his 
waist  with  a  broad  belt,  to  which  is  appended  a 
knife  with  a  blade  a  foot  long:  a  tomohawk,  or 
powder  horn,  in  the  belt  of  which  is  sometimes  a 
smaller  knife  to  cut  the  patch  of  the  bullet ;  a  bullet- 
pouch  ;  mocassins  on  his  feet ;  a  blanket  on  his  sad- 
dle ;  and  a  loaf  of  Indian  Corn.  Thus  equipped  and 
accoutered  he  enters  the  trackless  woods,  without 
a  compass,  or  a  guide,  but  what  appears  a  kind  of 
instinct.  He  is  fearless  of  every  thing,  attacks 
every  thing  that  comes  in  his  way,  and  thinks  him- 


182  F or dham's  Personal  Narrative 

self  the  happiest  and  noblest  being  in  the  world. 
These  men  have  kindly  feelings.  I  should  expect 
to  receive  more  sympathy  from  them  in  real  dis- 
tress, such  as  they  could  understand,  than  from 
more  enlightened,  and  more  civilized  men.  They 
never  swear.  Their  women  never  sit  at  table  with 
them;  at  least,  I  have  never  seen  them.  I  cannot 
speak  in  high  terms  of  the  manners  or  of  the  virtue 
of  their  squaws  and  daughters.  Their  houses  con- 
tain but  one  room,  and  that  used  as  a  sleeping  room 
as  well  by  strangers  as  by  the  men  of  the  family, 
they  lose  all  feminine  delicacy,  and  hold  their  vir- 
tue cheap. 


XII 

Dimensions  of  the  Ohio  —  Its  scenery  —  Velocity  of  the  current  — 
La  Salle  on  the  Ohio  —  Early  settlements  in  the  West  —  Strug- 
gle of  frontiersmen  and  Indians  —  Population  of  the  western 
states  —  The  growth  of  Cincinnati  —  Description  of  the  city  — 
Manners  of  the  people  —  The  negro  population  —  Story  of  the 
negro  Anthony  —  Character  of  the  flatboatmen. 

Cincinnati  March  6.  1818. 

I  WISH  you  could  see  this  town,1  one  of  the  most 
prosperous  in  the  west.  I  will  give  you  a  sketch 
of  it,  its  situation,  and  its  early  settlement. 


1  The  site  of  Cincinnati  was  first  occupied  in  1780  when  George 
Rogers  Clark,  in  the  course  of  his  campaign  against  the  allied 
British  and  Indian  invaders  of  Ohio,  gathered  there  about  a  thou- 
sand riflemen  and  built  a  blockhouse.  In  1787,  after  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Northwest  Territory,  Judge  John  Cleves  Symmes  of 
New  Jersey  applied  to  Congress  for  a  grant  of  a  million  acres  of 
land  lying  north  of  the  Ohio  and  between  the  Great  and  Little 
Miami  rivers.  The  grant  was  obtained,  though  the  tract  was  found 
eventually  to  contain  not  more  than  600,000  acres,  and  in  1788 
Symmes  removed  thither  with  his  family  and  about  fifty  associates. 
His  settlement  was  established  on  a  site  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
Licking,  receiving,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Kentucky  schoolmaster 
John  Filson,  the  awkward  name  Lostantiville  —  the  town  (ville) 
opposite  (anti)  the  mouth  (os*)  of  the  Licking  (L).  When  St.  Clair, 
governor  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  arrived  in  1790  he  very  sen- 
sibly ruled  that  the  town  should  be  called  Cincinnati,  in  honor  of 
the  military  society  of  that  name.  Symmes  was  one  of  the  first  three 
judges  associated  with  St.  Clair  in  the  management  of  Northwestern 
affairs.  Cincinnati  grew  slowly  at  first,  being  for  some  time  consid- 
erably more  important  as  a  stockade  than  as  a  town.  In  1792  its 
first  school  and  church  were  built  and  by  1800  it  had  a  population  of 
about  seven  hundred  and  fifty.  It  was  the  seat  of  government  of  the 
new  state  of  Ohio  until  1806,  when  the  capital  was  transferred  to 
Chillicothe.  The  census  of  1810  gave  it  a  population  of  2,320,  and  in 
the  following  year  Melish  describes  it  as,  next  to  Pittsburg,  the 
greatest  manufacturing  town  on  the  Ohio  and  a  place  rapidly  in- 
creasing in  size  and  advantages  (Travels,  ii,  pp.  126-131).  Its 
growth  after  this  time  was  rapid,  as  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  its 
population  in  1813  was  4,000;  in  1815.  6,000;  in  1819,  10,283;  and 
in  1826,  16,230.  Travellers  in  the  period  1816-1830  were  generally 
surprised  by  the  industrial  and  commercial  activity  of  the  place, 
as  well  as  by  the  high  state  of  society  in  it.  The  following  visitors 
have  good  descriptions  of  the  town :  Fearon,  Sketches,  pp.  226-237 ; 
12 


184 


Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 


The  Ohio  river  is  1,000  miles  long;  join  it  with 
the  Alleghany  it  is  1,300.  Its  width  at  Cincinnati, 
which  is  nearly  equidistant  from  Pittsburgh  and 
its  confluence  with  the  Mississippi,  is  534  yards; 
which  may  be  assumed,  says  Dr.  Drake,1  as  its 
mean  breadth.  He  is  wrong;  —  I  have  gone  down 
900  miles,  and  have  made  by  estimated  angles  above 
50  measurements,  and  its  average  breadth  cannot 

Birkbeck,  Notes,  pp.  81-89;  Hulme,  Journal  (EARLY  WESTERN 
TRAVELS,  x,  pp.  41-42)  ;  Nuttall,  Journal  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS, 
xiii,  p.  62)  ;  Flint,  Letters  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  ix,  pp.  149- 
156)  ;  William  Tell  Harris,  Remarks,  p.  99;  Woods,  Two  Years' 
Residence  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  pp.  235-237)  ;  and  Ogden, 
Letters  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xix,  pp.  35-38).  A  very  valuable 
work  on  early  Cincinnati  is  Daniel  Drake's  Natural  and  Statistical 
View  or  Picture  of  Cincinnati  and  the  Miami  Country  (Cincinnati, 
1815),  for  which  see  note  i,  below.  Two  very  good  popular 
accounts  are  Francis  W.  Miller's  Cincinnati's  Beginnings  (Cincin- 
nati, 1880)  and  Ford  and  Ford,  History  of  Cincinnati  (Cincinnati, 
1881). 

1  Daniel  Drake  was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1785.  At  the  age  of 
fifteen  he  became  a  student  of  medicine  at  Cincinnati,  where  he 
settled  permanently  in  the  practice  of  his  chosen  profession  in  1807, 
soon  becoming  one  of  the  foremost  physicians  of  the  West.  He  es- 
tablished the  Medical  College  of  Ohio  at  Cincinnati  (opened  in 
1820)  and  in  1827  was  selected  to  be  editor  of  the  Western  Medical 
and  Physical  Journal.  In  1810  he  published  a  pamphlet  entitled 
Notices  concerning  Cincinnati,  which  constitutes  the  first  authorita- 
tive description  of  the  place  of  any  length  that  we  have.  Five  years 
later  his  larger  work,  the  Natural  and  Statistical  View  or  Picture  of 
Cincinnati  and  the  Miami  Country,  appeared  —  a  book  which  served 
a  very  useful  purpose  in  promoting  the  prosperity  of  the  city  and 
region  described  in  it.  It  is  this  volume  (pp.  13-17)  that  contains 
the  statements  regarding  the  Ohio  to  which  Fordham  takes  ex- 
ception. Drake  also  published  History,  Character,  and  Prospects  of 
the  West:  a  Discourse  (Cincinnati,  1834)  ;  and  by  all  odds  his 
greatest  work  was  On  the  Principal  Diseases  of  the  Interior  Val- 
ley of  North  America,  published  in  1850,  two  years  before  the 
author's  death.  Further  information  will  be  found  in  Charles  D. 
Drake  [ed.],  Pioneer  Life  in  Kentucky:  a  Series  of  Reminiscential 
Letters  from  Daniel  Drake,  M.D.,  of  Cincinnati  to  his  Children 
(Cincinnati,  1870)  ;  Charles  D.  Meigs,  A  Biographical  Notice  of 
Daniel  Drake,  M.D.,  of  Cincinnati  (Philadelphia,  1853)  ;  and  Ed- 
ward Deering  Mansfield,  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Services  of  Daniel 
Drake,  with  Notices  of  the  Early  Settlement  of  Cincinnati  and 
some  of  its  Pioneer  Citizens  (Cincinnati,  1855). 


OBDQ 


Cincinnati  187 

be  less  than  700  yards.  Its  annual  range  from  high 
to  low  water  is  50  feet  —  its  extreme  range  7  feet 
more.  It  may  be  forded  in  many  places  above 
Louisville  when  the  water  is  at  the  lowest  stage; 
but  between  these  bars,  which  form  slight  rapids, 
there  are  basins  of  deep  water  many  miles  long. 

It  is  frozen  over  at  Pittsburg  almost  every  win- 
ter—  sometimes  at  Cincinnati  —  I  believe  never  at 
Shawanoe.  Generally  navigation  is  stopt  by  float- 
ing ice  8  or  10  weeks. 

The  Ohio  river  is  not  generally  a  picturesque  ob- 
ject. It  addresses  itself  powerfully  to  the  imagina- 
tion, but  not  to  the  senses.  Its  banks  are  clothed 
with  dark  forests.  Here  and  there  a  small  cabin 
peeps  from  the  trees.  Sometimes  the  rocks  rise 
around  you  in  solemnity  and  gloom  —  but  at  one 
place  only,  at  the  falls,  do  your  eyes  glance  over  any 
expanse  of  country. 

Nevertheless,  I  am  more  happy,  more  self-satis- 
fied, on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  than  ever  I  could 
have  been  on  the  fair  plains  of  Old  England.  The 
forests  of  Indiana,  the  mountains  of  Kentucky,  the 
wilds  of  the  Illinois,  if  they  are  not  so  beautiful,  yet 
their  grandeur  calls  forth  deeper,  more  sublime, 
emotions.  They  are  the  fields  of  enterprise,  the 
cradle  of  freedom,  the  land  of  rest  to  the  weary, 
the  place  of  refuge  to  the  oppressed.  Every  sound 
that  issues  from  the  woods,  from  the  crashing  tor- 
nado which  rushes  across  entire  regions,  clothed 
in  sheets  of  fire  and  shaking  the  hills  to  their  foun- 
dations,—  to  the  soft  low  murmur  of  an  autumnal 


Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 


breeze,  —  all  excites  the  most  profound  sentiments 
of  adoration  for  the  divine  author  of  Nature,  —  all 
recall  to  man  the  uncertain  duration  of  his  exist- 
ence; but  these  thoughts  are  unmixed  with  aught 
that  can  debase  his  worth  or  circumscribe  his 
powers.  These  wildernesses  are  given  to  him 
alone :  in  them  he  is  free ;  owning  no  master  but  his 
God,  and  no  authority  but  that  of  reason  and  truth. 

"And  sovereign  man  scarce  condescends  to  see 
"A  nation's  laws  more  sovereign  still  than  he." 

To  go  back  to  the  Ohio  River.  The  velocity  of 
its  current  is  estimated  at  3  miles  per  hour.  When 
the  waters  are  high  and  rising,  it  is  equal  to  4  and 
5.  But  the  progress  of  a  boat  must  be  estimated 
at  less,  because  the  filament  of  the  current  always 
inclines  towards,  and  is  generally  very  near,  the 
concave  shore;  thus  making  the  course  of  a  boat 
longer  than  the  length  of  the  middle  of  the  river: 
And  there  is  generally  a  light  breeze  on  the  surface 
of  the  water,  blowing  upwards  against  it. 

Monsr.  de  la  Salle,  a  frenchman,  in  an  inland  voy- 
age from  Quebec  to  the  Mississippi  in  1680,  de- 
scended the  Ohio.  Probably  he  was  the  first  white 
man  who  ever  navigated  it ;  and  his  adventure  was 
imitated  by  his  countrymen  exclusively  for  70 
years.1  Vincennes,  on  the  Wabash  was  founded 

1  On  the  achievements  of  La  Salle,  Fordham  is  badly  confused. 
If  La  Salle  ever  descended  the  Ohio  at  all  it  must  have  been  in 
1670  or  1671.  The  claim  is  made,  on  the  basis  mainly  of  some 
questionable  documents  in  Margry's  Decouvertes  et  Etablissements 
des  Francois  dans  I' Quest  et  dans  le  Sud  de  I'Amerique  Septen- 
trionale,  i,  pp.  103-166,  that  the  noted  explorer,  in  the  course  of  a 
western  expedition  from  La  Chine  in  1670  discovered  the  Ohio  and, 
following  its  course  to  the  Mississippi,  became  also  the  French 


Cincinnati  189 

in  1735  ;*  and  in  i753*Fort  DuQuesne,  at  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Monongahela  and  Alleghany.  In 
1788,  the  first  settlement  was  made  in  the  State  of 
Ohio,  at  Marietta  by  New  Englanders.3  In  the  au- 
tumn of  the  same  year,  a  party  of  New  Jersey  men 
settled  at  the  North  Bend,  just  above  the  mouth 
of  the  Great  Miami;4  Fort  Washington  was  built 
opposite  the  mouth  of  Licking,  where  Cincinnati 
now  stands;6  and  the  settlement  of  Columbia,  just 
below  the  Little  Miami,  was  undertaken.6 

A  dreadful  War  was  waged  by  the  Indians 
against  the  New  Comers,  who  appear  to  have  been 
well  furnished  with  arms,  and  with  nothing  else. 
They  used  to  steal  out  singly  at  night,  and  watch 
the  deer  come  to  the  creeks  to  drink;  and  when 

discoverer  of  this  latter  river.  It  is  possible,  as  Parkman  thought, 
that  the  Ohio  was  reached  at  this  time  and  descended  perhaps  as  far 
as  to  the  site  of  Louisville,  but  that  this  was  the  case  cannot  be 
proved;  that  in  any  event  no  more  than  this  was  accomplished  is 
practically  beyond  dispute.  La  Salle's  expedition  to  the  Mississippi 
in  1680  was  made  by  way  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Illinois  River. 

1  See  p.  96,  note  2. 

z  See  p.  71,  note.      The  date  should  be  1754. 

3  See  p.  86,  note. 

4  The  town  at  North  Bend,  some  miles  west  of  Cincinnati,  was  es- 
tablished by  Judge  John   Cleves   Symmes   in  the  hope  that  event- 
ually it  would  be  made  the  capital  of  the  Northwest  Territory.    See 
p.   183,  note. 

5 Fort  Washington  was  established  by  Major  Doughty  in  1787 
as  a  frontier  protection  against  the  Indians.  Being  no  longer  needed, 
it  was  demolished  in  1808.  Its  site  is  marked  at  present  by  Fort 
Washington  Monument,  in  Third  Street,  erected  in  1901.  See  Rob- 
ert Ralston  Jones,  Fort  Washington  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio  (Cincinnati, 
1902). 

6  In  1787  a  block-house  was  built  on  the  site  of  Columbia  by  Major 
Stiles,  of  Brownsville,  Pennsylvania,  and  twenty-five  associates. 
Like  the  slightly  later  settlement  at  North  Bend  (see  note  4, 
above),  Columbia  was  for  a  time  a  rival  of  Cincinnati  for  the 
dignity  of  capital  of  the  Northwest  Territory. 


190  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

they  had  shot  one,  they  were  obliged  to  lie  hid  for 
some  time  to  discover  if  any  Indians  were  roused 
by  the  report  of  the  gun;  then  the  poor  hunter 
would  take  the  whole  carcase  on  his  back,  and  carry 
it  perhaps  5  and  6  miles.  They  had  seldom  any 
bread,  and  sometimes  no  salt  to  eat  with  their  Ven- 
ison. In  process  of  time  they  drove  back  the  In- 
dians, built  their  huts,  made  themselves  farms,  and 
married.  Their  children  grew  hardy  and  chubby 
by  paddling  in  the  mud,  rolling  in  the  sand,  and 
eating  hominy. 

I   copy  the   following  table   from   Dr.    Drake's 
book.1 

Tenessee  settled  in  1775  had  in  1791  ....  in  1800  .  in  1810 

35691  inhabitants  105602  261727 

Kentucky  settled  in  1775  .  .  1790  ....  in  1800.  in  1810 

73677  inh.  220690  406511 

Ohio  settled  in  1788  .....  1790  .....  1800.  .  1810 

3000  inh.  42156  230670 


The  proportion 
of  males 
to  females.  .. 


Ohio  TOO  to  86 


o  TOO   o 

Kentucky  100  to  91          North'n  States  100  to  101 
-in  Tenessee  looto  93  in      -1  Middle  States  100  to  95 
Mexico  100  to  95  South'n  States  100  to  95 

Rhode  Isl'd  100  to  105 


I  shall  tire  you  with  dates  and  numbers.  Let  us 
see  what  Cincinnati  is  now.  It  stands  on  the  first 
and  second  banks  of  the  Ohio.  The  second  is  40 
feet  higher  than  the  first.  The  two  banks  are  both 
plains  nearly  parallel  with  the  horizon.  At  the  dis- 
tance of  a  mile  from  the  river  you  come  to  steep 
hills  above  300  feet  high. 

In  1810  Cincinnati  contained  2,320  Inhabitants; 

1  Daniel  Drake,  Natural  and  Statistical  View  of  Cincinnati,  p.  28. 
See  ante,  p.  184,  note. 


Cincinnati  191 

in  1814,  4,000,  in  1815,  6,000;  at  the  present  time 
the  lowest  estimation  is  8,000,  living  in  800  houses. 
There  are  6  places  of  worship;  2  presbyterian,  2 
methodist,  i  baptist  and  I  quaker ;  no  Roman  Cath- 
olic Chapel,  though  there  are  Catholics ;  a  Unitarian 
has  preached  here,  and  they  talk  of  getting  a  Chapel 
built. 

It  is  a  Corporation  town,  governed  by  a  Mayor, 
and  twelve  councilmen. 

It  has  a  Court  house  and  gaol,  a  public  seminary 
on  Lancaster's  plan,  and  a  Theatre  fallen  into  dis- 
repute, and  in  a  state  of  dilapidation.  The  Steam 
Mill  cost  130,000$. 

Mr.  Greene's  foundery  is  a  flourishing  establish- 
ment. He  has  workmen  equal  to  do  any  thing  in 
Machinery. 

There  are  four  Banks.  They  issue  notes  as  low 
as  dollars.  There  are  tickets  in  circulation  of  as 
small  value  as  6 J4  Cents  —  about  4  pence.  This  is 
the  smallest  division  of  money,  and  is  valued  about 
as  much  as  a  halfpenny  is  in  England. 

There  is  a  United  States'  Land  Office  here,  and 
Mr.  Jesse  Embree  has  established  a  Land  agency 
office,  at  which  emigrants  may  procure  informa- 
tion, that  might  otherwise  cost  them  many  hundred 
miles  travelling  to  obtain. 

The  houses  of  the  principal  streets  are  built  of 
brick,  and  are  handsome  without  and  convenient 
within.  The  upper  part  of  the  Town  is  not  yet 
much  built  upon,  and  is  chiefly  encumbered  by  mean 
paltry  wooden  houses;  though  there  are  some 


192  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

dwellings  with  their  proud  porticos,  that  look  too 
aristocratic  by  half  for  the  State  of  Ohio.  Around 
the  town  are  scattered  a  few  good  and  many  indif- 
ferent villas  and  ornamented  Cottages;  like,  but 
unequal  to  those  near  London. 

The  river,  which  is  now  rising,  and  open,  dis- 
plays a  gay  and  busy  scene.  Boats  and  barges, 
some  of  which  are  schooner-rigged,  are  taking  in 
or  discharging  cargoes.  Flour  is  shipped  here, 
which  you  possibly  may  eat  in  London,  and  Eng- 
lish goods  block  up  the  path  along  the  shore.  Some 
of  these  boats  are  manned  by  Sailors,  and  their 
cheerful  shouts  and  yo-hoing  make  me  forget  I  am 
1,500  miles  from  the  Ocean. 

Of  the  manners  of  the  Citizens  of  Cincinnati  I 
ought  to  say  but  little,  for  my  acquaintance  has 
been  confined  to  the  Quakers.  Servants  are  so  dif- 
ficult to  be  obtained  that  the  wives  and  daughters 
of  the  middle  classes  do  nearly  all  the  household 
work  themselves,  and  a  negro,  unless  you  hire  him 
by  the  month  to  clean  your  boots  will  charge  you 
each  time  12^2  Cents.  This,  however,  is  not  the 
case  with  the  very  rich,  who  live  in  plenty  and  even 
splendour,  that  would  excite  the  envy  of  an  Eng- 
lish Shopkeeper.  There  are  several  carriages  and 
some  one-horse  chaises,  but  Jersey  waggons  are 
more  common  and  more  useful. 

The  western  Americans  are  not  so  domestic  as 
the  English.  Business  and  politics  engross  the 
thoughts  of  the  men.  They  live  in  their  Stores  and 
Counting  houses,  and  associate  with  their  wives 


Cincinnati  193' 

as  little  as  may  be.  The  latter  are  generally  infe- 
rior in  information  and  talents  of  conversation  to 
English  women  of  the  same  station  in  life.  They 
are  good  managers  in  their  houses,  but  are  fond  of 
dress,  in  which  they  have  but  little  taste.  The  Ohio 
women  are  pretty,  but  not  interesting.  We  some- 
times meet  with  one  who  is  above  the  common 
standard,  but  she  is,  ten  to  one,  an  Emigrant  from 
the  East. 

But,  however,  there  is  no  standard  of  manners, 
no  classification  of  these  people,  who  have  come 
perhaps  from  the  Mountains  of  Vermont  or  the 
barren  sands  of  Nantucket,  from  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut  and  from  every  State  in  the  Union, 
from  the  frozen  regions  of  Canada,  from  every 
Country  in  Europe. 

There  are  a  few  white  servants,  chiefly  inden- 
tured girls,  who  are  allowed  indulgencies  which 
would  astonish  an  English  housekeeper.  They  are 
treated  rather  as  poor  relations,  or  as  children,  than 
as  menials.  Black  servants  will  take  liberties  that 
are  not  granted. 

There  are  a  few  Negroes  here;  perhaps  200  in 
the  whole  town.  More  dissipated,  vile,  insolent 
beings  there  cannot  be.  I  have  been  on  the  point 
of  knocking  my  Shoeblack  down  twice.  I  changed 
him ;  —  and  but  little  for  the  better.  It  will  not  do 
to  speak  to  a  Negro  as  you  must  to  a  white  man; 
he  assumes  upon  it  immediately.  Yet  I  know  Ne- 
groes who  are  most  excellent  servants.  Mr.  J 

has  one  —  his  story  is  worth  relating. 


194  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

Anthony  was  brought  into  Indiana  by  a  man 
named  Hopkins,  who  became  Sheriff,  and  went 
with  the  Militia  to  Tippecanoe.  He  took  Anthony 
with  him  as  a  waggoner.  In  that  fiercely  fought 
battle  the  Americans  nearly  yielded  to  the  onset  of 
the  Indians.  Anthony,  who  was  safe  amidst  the 
baggage,  rushed  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight, 
snatched  a  rifle  from  a  dying  soldier,  and  fought  by 
the  side  of  his  Master.  When  Indiana  became  a 
state,  slavery  was  abolished  and  Anthony  was  free.1 
He  said  to  his  Master,  "You  bought  me  but  a  little 
while  ago  for  a  great  deal  of  money;  you  will  lose 
it,  if  I  leave  you  now.  I  will  indenture  myself  for 
10  years."  His  offer  was  accepted  by  Hopkins, 
who  afterwards  sold  him  as  a  slave  for  life  to  some 
Orleans  traders,  who  wanted  to  take  him  by  force 
down  to  Louisiana,  where  he  would  have  been 
worked,  starved,  and  flogged  into  feebleness  and 
submission.  Anthony,  who  is  as  strong  as  an  Ath- 


1  The  provision  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  that  there  should  be 
"  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude "  in  the  Northwest 
Territory  was  understood  by  the  people  of  the  Territory  to  mean 
simply  that  free  negroes  could  not  legally  be  enslaved  and  that 
slaves  could  not  be  brought  in  from  outside  sources.  It  was  as- 
sumed that  the  ordinance  was  not  retroactive  and  did  not  affect  the 
status  of  slaves  already  held  at  the  time  of  its  promulgation ;  and  this 
assumption  was  proved  well  founded  when  the  question  was  tested 
subsequently  in  the  courts.  The  population  of  southern  Indiana 
and  Illinois  was  largely  o.f  southern  origin.  It  included  many  resi- 
dents who  were  slave-holders  in  1787  and  many  others  who  came 
in  after  that  date,  bringing  their  slaves  with  them  and  holding  them 
on  sufferance.  An  elaborate  system  of  indented  servitude  also  pre- 
vailed, and  it  was  not  until  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  the 
state  of  Indiana  in  1816  that  slavery,  or  its  practical  equivalent,  was 
finally  and  absolutely  abolished  in  that  portion  of  the  old  Territory. 
On  the  great  struggle  over  slavery  which  went  on  in  Indiana  during 
the  period  1800-1812  see  John  D.  Dillon,  History  of  Indiana,  chapter 
xxxi,  and  Jacob  P.  Dunn,  Indiana,  chapter  vi. 


Cincinnati  195 

lete,  broke  from  them  and  ran  into  Princeton, 

where  his  part  was  taken  by  my  friend  Mr.  J , 

who  bought  his  time  and  treats  him  as  a  friend 
rather  than  a  servant.  In  three  years  he  will  be 
free,  and  he  talks  of  going  to  his  father,  who  lives 
among  the  Chickasaws,  but  I  tell  him  I  shall  want 
him.  As  I  always  pay  him  the  respect  due  to  his 
virtues  and  almost  heroic  character,  he  is  very 
much  attached  to  me.  He  is  learning  to  read  of 
Mr.  Birkbeck's  servant. 

This  man  Anthony  is  as  well  made  as  any  white. 
His  colour  is  deep  black.  There  is  a  quickness  and 
cheerfulness  about  him,  which  makes  him  an  ex- 
cellent servant. 

The  whites  here  hold  themselves  above  the 
blacks,  be  they  bondsmen  or  free.  The  blacks  are 
the  Helots  of  this  modern  Sparta. 

Workmen  of  every  class  are  upon  an  equality 
with  every  man.  I  am  now  surrounded  by  those  of 
Mr.  Green's  Shops,  whose  address  is  equal  to  that 
of  many  an  Englishman  who  farms  his  thousand 
acres;  they  expect  civility  and  they  generally  re- 
turn it. 

The  boatmen  who  used  to  be  my  aversion,  are 
not  nearly  so  much  so  now.  There  are  some  in- 
corrigible scoundrels  among  them;  and  their  con- 
versation and  manners  are  only  to  be  equalled  in 
the  sinks  of  London ;  but  should  you  take  a  respect- 
able young  woman  on  board  a  boat,  especially  if  it 
be  your  own,  you  will  not  hear  a  word  to  offend 
you.  —  But  I  would  advise  all  travellers  going  alone 


196  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

down  the  river,  to  get  one  man  at  least  that  they 
can  depend  upon,  and  to  wear  a  dagger  or  a  brace 
of  pistols;  for  there  are  no  desperadoes  more  sav- 
age in  their  anger  than  these  men.  Give  them  your 
hand,  —  accost  them  with  a  bold  air,  —  taste  their 
whisky,  —  and  you  win  their  hearts.  But  a  little 
too  much  reserve  or  haughtiness  offends  them  in- 
stantly, and  draws  upon  you  torrents  of  abuse,  if 
not  a  personal  assault.  They  are  a  dauntless,  hardy 
set;  thoughtless,  and  short  lived  from  intemper- 
ance. I  must  say  for  them,  that,  since  I  have  un- 
derstood their  characters,  I  have  never  received  a 
saucy  word  from  any  of  them. 

I  write  in  a  desultory  manner,  which  I  hope  you 
will  excuse;  and  I  hope  you  will  never  imagine 
things  to  be  wrorse  than  I  represent  them.  I  give 
the  darker  shade  to  every  vice,  the  full,  broad,  out- 
line to  all  I  dislike  in  this  Country.  So  pray  do 
not  let  your  imagination  dwell  on  the  ills,  which 
follow  the  footsteps  of  man  wherever  he  goes. 

The  family  I  am  in  are  from  Nantucket.  In  the 
Pennsylvanian  farmer's  letter  by  Hector  S*.  John, 
there  is  a  pretty  description  of  that  little  island, 
and  it  is  correct,  I  am  told,  in  all  respects,  but  one 
in  which  he  mentions  the  general  use  of  opium.1 

The  Nantucketers  are  most  like  the  good,  old 
fashioned  English,  of  any  Americans  I  have  seen. 
To  me,  now  I  am  becoming  an  American,  they  seem 
to  be  absolutely  English.  Perhaps  there  may  be 

xTwo  more  recent  descriptions  of  the  island  are  R.  H.  Cook's 
Historical  Notes  on  the  Island  of  Nantucket  (Nantucket,  1871) 
and  William  R.  Bliss's  Quaint  Nantucket  (Boston,  1896). 


Cincinnati  197 


some  differences,  but  they  are  not  very  obvious.  I 
am  treated  by  this  family  with  great  kindness,  as 
much  so  as  if  I  were  a  Son  of  it.  I  should  say  that 
part  of  the  family  is  from  New  Jersey,  who  are 
next  akin  to  English.  New  Yorkers,  perhaps,  come 
next. 


XIII 

A  record  of  temperatures  —  A  hard  winter  —  Life  during  the  cold 
weather  —  The  climate  and  health  —  Reasons  for  lack  of 
longevity  among  the  Westerners — A  trip  from  Princeton  to  the 
English  Prairie  —  The  hiring  of  laborers  —  Entering  more  land 

—  English  manners  to  be  preserved  in  Mr.  Birkbeck's  settlement 

—  Possibility  of  an  Indian  war  —  The  Rappites  of  Harmony  — 
Their  manners  and  character  —  Religious  services. 

English  Prairie  May  5.  1818. 

I  SHALL  attend  to  your  desire  to  have  a  meteoro- 
logical diary  kept :  it  is  the  only  way  of  obtaining  a 
correct  knowledge  of  the  temperature  of  the  cli- 
mate. 

Mr.  B.  has  noted  in  his  almanack  the  variations 
of  the  Thermometer  till  he  left  Princeton  3  weeks 
ago.  —  I  will  give  you  now  from  memory  a  sketch 
of  the  changes  since  July  1817. 

July.  Therm,  at  noon  75°.  to  85°.  — at 

night,  perhaps,  50°.  to  55°.  —  Thun- 
derstorm once  in  10  days  —  no  fogs 
or  hazy  weather. 

August.  75°.  to  90°.  Thunderstorms,  frequent 
—  clear  weather  and  warm  nights. 

Septr.  70°.  to  85°.  Thunderstorms  and  hard 

rain  two  or  three  days,  nights  warm. 

October.  40°.  to  80°.  Cold  winds  and  rains  the 
latter  part  of  the  month. 


English  Prairie 


199 


November. 


December. 


January. 

February. 

March. 

April. 
May.  5th. 


40°.  to  70°.  A  few  days  of  hazy 
weather,  succeeded  by  the  Indian 
Summer,  during  which  the  sky  was 
always  obscured  as  if  by  smoke.  The 
weather  warm  and  pleasant.  The  sun 
looked  red,  and  the  clouds  yellowish. 
This  was  succeeded  by  rain  and  after 
by  cool  weather  —  It  was  still  pleasant 
sleeping  in  the  woods. 
Therm:  varied  a  good  deal.  Some- 
times we  sat  out  of  doors  in  the  even- 
ing. The  month  closed  with  hard 
frosts,  which  broke  up  after  10  days 
duration  —  say  for  this  month  — 


st.  week  40° 
•  35' 


at  noon. 


,th 


to  55°- 
to  50°. 

at  night  8°.  below  o.  at  noon 
10°  and  15°.  above. 
The  frost  broke  up  with  cold 
rain. 

Pleasant  weather;  generally  50°.  at 

noon. 

Freezing   hard   and   thawing   again. 

Weather  changing  every  week. 

Cold  winds,  —  quite    English    March 

weather. 

English  April  weather. 

Trees  are  putting  forth  leaves,  grass 

beginning  to  grow,  and  woods  gay 

with  blossoms. 


2OO  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

The  oldest  Indian  traders  say  that  there  has  been 
more  rain,  and  that  it  has  been  altogether  severer, 
this  winter,  than  they  have  known  for  thirty  years. 
Some  very  old  men  say  at  the  first  settling  of  S*. 
Vincennes  60  years  ago,  there  were  two  or  three 
such  winters.  Much  credit  cannot  be  given  to  such 
long  recollections.  The  waters  of  the  Wabash  this 
winter  rose  to  some  very  old  water  marks,  which 
evidently  had  not  been  touched  for  many  years. 

When  the  Thermometer  is  10°.  below  Zero,  it  is 
impossible  to  warm  a  boarded  frame  house.  A 
good  log  or  plastered  one  may  be  made  warm.  Men 
never  think  of  working  in  this  weather,  but  every 
body  crowds  round  the  tavern  fires  to  talk  politics. 
The  bear  hunters,  however,  choose  this  weather, 
and  go  out  9  or  10  days  without  returning  home. 
They  make  blanket  tents,  open  towards  the  fire, 
which  is  an  oblong  pyramid  of  logs  10  feet  by  3  or 
4  at  the  base. 

The  coldest  weather  is  cheerful:  fogs  are  almost 
unknown,  except  on  large  bodies  of  water.  On  the 
Ohio  I  have  known  it  so  dark  at  10  a.  m.  that  I 
could  not  see  30  yards. 

This  spring  is  later  than  any  ever  remembered. 
There  is,  upon  the  whole,  a  superiority  in  the  Cli- 
mate of  the  western  Country  to  that  of  England; 
though  not  so  great  as  I  at  first  imagined,  or  as 
you  would  expect  from  the  latitude.  Consumptions 
are  almost  unknown  here.  Bilious  fevers  are  rather 
prevalent,  but  not  dangerous  when  early  attended 
to.  Women  have  not  such  good  health  as  the  men 


English  Prairie  201 


have;  but  that  is  to  be  attributed  to  their  mode  of 
life,  —  being  always  in  the  house,  usually  without 
shoes  and  stockings,  and  roasting  themselves  over 
large  fires. 

People  are  not  so  long-lived  here  as  in  England, 
and  they  look  old  sooner.  This  I  think  may  be 
justly  attributed  to 

Ist.     The  universal  use  of  spirituous  liquors. 

2diy  -p^  (Jisregar(j  of  personal  comfort  and 
cleanliness,  exposure  to  bad  air  near  swamps  &c, 
and  want  of  good  Clothing. 

3dly.  The  great  stimulus  and  excitement  of  the 
mental  passions,  which  adventurers  and  first  set- 
tlers are,  by  their  situation,  subject  to. 

4thly.     (Perhaps)  violent  religious  enthusiasm. 

5thly.     In  some  instances,  very  early  marriages. 

I  find  it  no  easy  task  to  write  descriptions  of  man- 
ners and  opinions.  If  individual  pictures  only  be 
drawn,  the  inferences  must  be  in  part  erroneous; 
and  sketches  of  a  more  comprehensive  nature  are 
either  loose  and  incorrect,  or  tame  and  unreadable. 

Harmonic  on  the  W abash — May  6. 

Robert  W arrived  at  Princeton  on  Sunday, 

while  I  was  taking  a  walk  in  the  woods  with  Mr. 

S .     As  we  returned  into  the  town,  a  woman 

poked  her  head  out  of  a  hole,  called  a  window,  in 
the  side  of  a  log  cabin,  and  screamed  out  "An  Eng- 
lishman is  come." 

I  ran  home,  and  found  whole  packets  of  letters. 
You  do  not  know  what  it  is  to  have  letters  from  a 

18 


2O2  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

long  left  native  land.  —  I  did  not  sleep  that  night. 

The  next  morning  Robert  and  I  started  for  the 
Prairie.  I  took  him  the  shortest  road,  or  rather 
through  Woods  and  Swamps  where  there  was  no 
road  at  all.  He  had  been  wearied  by  his  journey 
and  discouraged.  I  talked,  laughed,  galloped  and 
splashed  along,  to  his  great  astonishment,  who 
could  not  imagine  that  a  civilized  Englishman  could 
like  such  a  dismal  Country. 

We  came  to  the  Wabash :  Even  "the  handsome 
river,"  with  its  silver  waves,  excited  in  the  Lon- 
doner no  admiration.  At  Coffee  Settlement1  there 
was  daylight,  but  no  inhabitants  but  Canadian 
French  and  Creoles.2 

Eight  miles  more  of  woods  and  wet  prairies 

brought  us  to  Bonpas,  and  my  friends  the  W 's, 

fine  specimens  of  backwoodsmen.  Their  hospi- 
table, not  to  say,  courteous  manners,  frank  and  in- 
trepid look,  and  the  pleasure  they  expressed  at  see- 
ing me,  pleased  Robert :  here  he  felt  a  little  better. 

We  then  travelled  through  some  rough,  brushy 
woods,  broken  by  ravines ;  then  through  part  of  the 
Long  Prairie  and  a  narrow  strip  of  wood;  and  the 
English  Prairie,  with  all  its  swelling  hills,  mean- 
dering brooks,  and  dark  surrounding  forests, 
opened  at  once  upon  our  sight.  A  strong  North- 

1  Coffee   Creek   is   a   little   stream   flowing  into   the   Wabash   six 
miles  below  Mount  Carmel,  in  Wabash  County,  Illinois.     The  set- 
tlement  to   which  Fordham   refers  was  on  this  creek,  eight  miles 
from  Bonpas.    See  p.  118,  note  2. — EDITOR. 

This  word  is  pronounced  in  the  back  woods  "  saitelmeant." 

— FORDHAM. 

2  Half  or  quarter  bred  Indians. — FORDHAM. 


English  Prairie  203 


westerly  wind  swept  off  the  clouds  over  the  South- 
ern ridges,  and  the  sun  shone  forth  in  the  clear  sky 
of  a  Southern  climate,  throwing  alternate  light  and 
shade  on  the  wood-clothed  hills,  which  rise  above 
each  other  in  long  succession  till  they  are  lost  in  the 
blue  horizon.  Robert  exclaimed,  "This  is  grand!" 
and  I  was  shaking  hands  with  him  to  welcome  him 
to  our  territory,  when  four  deer  springing  from  a 
thicket  startled  our  horses;  and  his  ran  away  with 
him  across  the  Prairie.  We  reached  the  settlement 
at  sun  down;  and  that  night  Robert  shared  my 
blanket  on  the  floor  of  a  new  Cabin. 

Yesterday  I  left  the  English  Prairie  with , 

and  came  here  to  engage  hands  to  take  a  keel  boat 
to  Shawnee.  I  must  go  then  to  enter  land,  and 
shall  return  immediately  on  horseback  to  superin- 
tend the  building  of  houses  to  receive  's  and 

my  people.  Mine  will  be  French  Canadians. 

I  have  hired  one  man,  his  wife  and  three  boys, 
great  and  small,  for  15$  per  month,  and  I  am  to 
find  them  food.  The  woman  is  to  cook  and  wash 

for  me.  DuG has  offered  me  his  eldest  son,  15 

years  old,  a  very  nice  boy,  on  trial.  I  have  sent  to 
Vincennes  for  3  more  men ;  besides  which  I  want  to 
contract  with  Americans  to  build  four  houses,  and 
to  make  two  miles  of  fence  railing,  and  one  mile 
of  ditching. 

I  have  surveyed  the  land  next  behind  mine,  and 
only  one  quarter  section  is  good.  There  are  some 
hills  of  thin  timber,  such  as  will  lie  unoccupied,  per- 
haps five  or  six  years.  But  I  think  I  can  find  some 


204  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

good  land  for  you  near  the  Brushy  Prairie.  The 
English  Prairie  is  entirely  taken  up  by  our  party, 
except  3  quarter  sections  at  the  bottom,  which  I 
have  no  doubt  will  be  bought  by  some  of  us. 

I  shall  enter  one  quarter  more  north  of  my  own, 
which  will  make  my  farm  480  acres,  of  which  200 
acres  will  be  good  prairie,  and  the  remaining  280 
acres,  white  oak,  post  oak,  shell-bark  hickory  and 
walnut  land,  that  is  pretty  good  second  rate  land, 
such  as  will  grow  fine  wheat  crops,  and  about  50 
bushels  of  Maize  per  acre.  The  timber  is  very 
thrifty,  apparently  of  about  40  or  50  years  growth. 

I  will  not  enter  inferior  land  for  you  for  the 
sake  of  proximity.  The  country  is  filling  up  fast; 
so  it  will  answer  better  to  buy  good  land  further 
off. 

I  am  obliged  to  you  for  remembering  me.  I  can 
assure  you,  I  often  think  of  you  in  this  land  of  dirt, 
bad  cooking,  and  discomfort  of  every  kind. 

But  I  am  not,  thanks  to  the  very  nice  family  I  am 
with,  either  discouraged,  or  yet  quite  a  hottentot.  I 
still  prefer  sweet  butter  to  grease,  milk  fresh  from 
the  cow  to  sour  and  rancid  swill;  although,  I  like 
corn  or  hoe  cakes,  hominy  (that  is  boiled  corn)  and 
mush  (hasty  pudding  made  of  Indian  meal)  and 
stewed  pumpkins  very  well.  I  change  my  shirt, 
when  it  is  convenient,  twice  a  week,  and  sometimes 
take  my  clothes  off  when  I  go  to  bed.  My  hands, 
though  rougher  by  far,  are  not  quite  so  dark  as 
an  Indian's;  and  moreover  I  am  grown  very  stout. 


English  Prairie  205 


Mr.  Birkbeck  does  not  mean  to  introduce  more 
American  customs  in  our  Colony  than  will  be  neces- 
sary. English  ideas  and  manners  will  be  preserved 
as  much  as  possible ;  and  already  we  begin  to  be  re- 
spected. Some  of  the  wildest  fellows  want  to  re- 
move, but  other  respectable  men  wish  to  get  near 
us.  So  in  many  respects  the  desert  will  soon  begin 
to  smile. 

When  we  first  came  out  there  was  no  population 
to  withstand  an  incursion  of  Indians,  if  a  war 
had  been  excited  by  the  violent  and  cruel  hunters. 
Our  houses  were  planned  to  be  easily  converted  into 
forts,  and  bastions  erected  at  the  angles.  These  pre- 
cautions will  be  unnecessary  now;  though  Mr.  B., 
who  never  pronounces  the  word  fear,  and  Judge  H., 
a  cidevant  Soldier,  both  thought  them  to  be  pru- 
dential measures  a  few  months  ago. 

However,  should  a  war  break  out  on  our  fron- 
tiers, I  hope  there  is  not  nor  will  be,  a  young  Eng- 
lishman among  us,  who  would  hesitate  to  turn  out 
with  his  gun  and  blanket.  There  is  much  less 
Indian  Territory  in  Illinois  than  in  Indiana. 

I  am  at  Harmonic,1  where  I  am  now  well  ac- 

1  The  town  of  Harmony,  properly  New  Harmony,  in  Posey  Coun- 
ty, Indiana,  was  established  in  1815  by  a  company  of  Germans  under 
the  leadership  of  George  Rapp.  The  settlement,  which  was  one  of 
the  most  unique  in  the  history  of  the  West,  was  the  ultimate  out- 
growth of  a  migration  from  the  German  state  of  Wiirttemberg  a 
decade  earlier.  In  Wiirttemberg  at  the  beginning  of  the  century 
the  Lutheran  creed  was  being  imposed  relentlessly  upon  all  the 
inhabitants  and  it  was  felt  by  many  that  the  principles  of  religion 
were  being  employed  by  the  government  merely  as  convenient  tools 
of  despotism.  One  man  of  influence  holding  this  opinion  was 
George  Rapp  (1757-1847)  who  proceeded  to  get  together  at  Iptingen 
a  group  of  persons  of  similar  mind  and  to  form  them  into  a  society 
to  live  after  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  ideal  plan  of  the  New 


206  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

quainted  both  with  the  leaders  Messrs.  Rapp  Senr. 
and  Junr.  and  with  the  people.  I  am  treated  here 
with  great  kindness. 

Their  monastic  way  of  life  is,  which  I  once 
doubted,  the  result  of  religious  conviction.  I  have 
talked  with  some  of  them  on  their  religious  Princi- 
ples. The  Tavern  is  conducted  in  the  most  orderly 
and  cleanly  manner  that  a  tavern  can  be  in  Amer- 
ica, where  men  spit  every  where,  and,  almost  on 
every  thing.  Now  they  know  my  habits  are  Euro- 
pean, they  put  me  in  a  clean  bed,  give  me  clean 
towels,  and  pay  me  more  respect  than  they  do  any 
American. 


Testament.  The  speedy  incurring  of  fines  and  imprisonment  at  the 
hands  of  the  authorities  prompted  Rapp  and  his  associates  to  decide 
to  emigrate  to  the  United  States.  In  1803  Rapp  and  a  few  com- 
panions came  out  as  agents  of  the  society  to  select  a  site  for  the 
future  settlement.  The  location  chosen  was  on  Conequenessing 
Creek,  in  Butler  County,  Pennsylvania,  about  thirty  miles  north- 
west of  Pittsburg.  In  1804  the  society  embarked  at  Amsterdam  and 
in  the  following  year  a  town  was  laid  out  on  the  proposed  site  and 
given  the  name  Harmony.  Within  twelve  months  the  colony  had 
come  to  comprise  ninety  families.  A  tract  of  nine  thousand  acres  was 
bought,  mills  and  factories  were  erected,  and  the  thrift  and  frugality 
of  the  settlers  soon  brought  material  prosperity.  In  1811  the  society 
had  eight  hundred  members.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  the  region 
around  Harmony  became  so  thickly  settled  that  land  rose  to  a  high 
value  and  the  Germans  saw  an  opportunity  to  increase  their  capital 
by  selling  their  original  tract  and  moving  to  another  farther 
West.  In  1813  Rapp  purchased  for  the  use  of  his  colony  thirty 
thousand  acres  in  the  south-western  corner  of  Indiana  and  there, 
two  years  later,  the  town  of  New  Harmony  was  laid  out.  In  1824 
this  location  was  purchased  in  turn  by  George  Flower  for  Robert 
Owen,  of  New  Lanark,  Scotland,  who  desired  to  use  it  in  experi- 
menting with  his  communistic  projects.  The  year  following  Rapp 
led  his  colony  back  to  Pennsylvania  and  settled  it  in  the  new  town 
of  Economy,  in  Beaver  County,  seventeen  miles  northwest  of  Pitts- 
burg.  After  some  years  of  interesting  but  on  the  whole  not  en- 
couraging efforts  at  New  Harmony,  Owen  gave  up  his  enterprise 
and  returned  to  Scotland.  Because  of  its  location  and  its  unique 
character  the  New  Harmony  settlement,  especially  under  Rapp's 
occupancy,  was  visited  by  virtually  every  traveller  who  came  at  all 
near  it  and  as  a  consequence  a  number  of  valuable  descriptions  were 


English  Prairie  207 


Their  cooking,  their  dress,  is  exactly  the  same 
as  it  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine.  Their  lan- 
guage is  German.  They  are  orderly,  civil  people, 
and  their  town  is  already  very  neat.  The  houses, 
log-built,  are  placed  at  regular  distances,  and  are 
each  surrounded  by  a  neat  kitchen  and  flower  gar- 
den, paled  in.  The  footpath  is  divided  from  the 
road  by  rows  of  lombardy  poplars.  Mr.  Rapp's 
house  is  a  handsome  brick  building,  by  far  the 
best  in  Indiana. 

The  Harmonists  have,  to  each  family  a  cow, 
which  comes  to  its  owner's  gate  every  morning  and 
evening.  In  the  woods  they  are  kept  by  herdsmen. 
They  have  public  ovens,  public  stores,  and  every 
thing  in  common.  They  brew  beer  and  make  wine : 
the  latter  is  kept  for  the  sick  and  to  sell.  They 
all  dress  alike:  —  Mr.  Rapp  as  the  meanest  labour- 
er;—  except  when  he  goes  out  of  town. 

They  are  great  musicians,  and  many  of  them 
study  music  as  a  Science.  Once  a  week  they  have 
a  concert  at  Mr.  Rapp's,  to  which  I  am  invited. 

Their  church  is  a  neat  wooden  building,  painted 
white.  It  has  a  tower,  a  bell,  and  a  clock.  The 


left  on  record,  such  as  that  which  Fordham  here  gives.  Other  con- 
temporary accounts  are  Birkbeck,  Notes,  pp.  135-142;  Hulme, 
Journal  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  pp.  53-61)  ;  Bradbury,  Travels 
(EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  v,  pp.  314-316)  ;  Woods,  Two  Years' 
Residence  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  pp.  312-315)  ;  Welby, 
Visit  to  North  America  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xii,  p.  260,  ff.)  ; 
and  Faux,  Memorable  Days  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xi,  p.  248, 
ff.).  George  B.  Lockwood's  The  New  Harmony  Communities 
(Marion,  Indiana,  1902)  is  the  best  general  history  of  the  Rapp 
settlement,  though  Hinds,  American  Communities  (Chicago,  1902) 
contains  a  fair  account.  For  the  history  of  the  Rappites  themselves 
Sachse's  German  Sectarians  of  Pennsylvania  (Philadelphia,  1900) 
is  useful. 


208  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

men  sit  at  one  end  of  the  church  and  the  women  at 
the  other ;  and  Mr.  Rapp  sits  while  he  preaches  in  a 
chair  placed  on  a  stage,  about  one  yard  high,  with 
a  table  before  him.  When  I  heard  him  one  week 
day  evening,  he  wore  a  linsey  woolsey  coat  and  a 
blue  worsted  night  cap.  In  praying  the  Harmon- 
ists do  not  rise  up  nor  kneel  down,  but  bend  their 
bodies  forward,  almost  to  their  knees.  Their  sing- 
ing is  very  good. 

The  country  people  hate  the  Harmonists  very 
much,  because  they  permit  no  drunkenness  in  their 
taverns. 

When  I  make  severe  remarks  on  the  Americans, 
you  must  understand  I  always  except  a  consider- 
able number;  some  of  whom  would  be  ornaments 

to  any  Country.  Judge  H ,  S ,  and  B 

(though  quite  a  youth)  are  of  this  number.  .  .  . 


XIV 

Rise  of  land  values  —  The  question  of  admitting  slavery  —  Lack  of 
free  laborers  —  Wages  and  expenses  of  laborers  —  Land  for 
every  immigrant  —  Mr.  Birkbeck's  plan  for  the  settlement  of 
his  English  laborers  —  Difficulties  of  establishing  a  settlement 
—  Threatened  incursion  of  Indians  —  Kentucky  hospitality  — 
Mode  of  life  of  the  Kentuckians. 

Princeton  June  20.  1818. 

KENTUCKIAN  Speculators  are  very  busy  in  every 
direction  around  us,  and  I  expect  that  land  on  the 
Wabash,  the  Ohio,  the  Illinois,  and  the  Mississippi, 
will  be  very  shortly  worth  from  5$  to  30$  per  acre. 
Perhaps  in  two  or  three  years ;  and  as  far  inland  as 
the  beneficial  effects  of  navigation  can  be  felt.  The 
rise  of  the  value  of  land  will  be  modified  by  the  cir- 
cumstances of  local  situation,  quantity  and  quality 
of  timber,  water,  and,  —  more  than  all,  —  by  the  de- 
cision of  the  Convention,  now  about  to  be  elected, 
upon  the  grand  question  of  Slavery.1  If  Slavery 
be  admitted,  it  is  the  opinion  of  many  that  well- 

1  The  constitution  framed  by  the  convention  of  1818  and  subse- 
quently adopted  contained  a  provision  (Art.  VI,  §i)  which  was 
interpreted  as  prohibiting  the  further  introduction  of  slaves  into  the 
new  state  but  not  as  liberating  those  already  held  there  or  abolish- 
ing slavery  as  an  institution.  These  latter  ends  were  not  achieved 
until  the  second  constitution  was  adopted  in  1848.  The  census  of 
1820  showed  that  Illinois  contained  917  slaves,  and  that  of  1830, 
746.  The  years  1822-1825  were  marked  by  a  bitter  struggle  between 
the  pro-slave  and  free-state  elements,  resulting  from  an  attempt  to 
change  the  constitution  so  that  it  would  give  positive  rather  than 
mere  negative  protection  to  slavery.  The  leader  of  the  free-state 
party  was  Edward  Coles,  who  had  been  elected  governor  of  the 
commonwealth  in  August,  1822.  Coles  was  a  Virginian  and  had 
been  a  slave-holder,  but  he  was  strongly  opposed  to  the  conversion 
of  nominally  free  into  avowedly  slave  soil.  In  the  fight  which  he 
waged  with  the  pro-slave  party  after  his  election  his  most  active 
supporters  were  the  inhabitants  of  the  English  Settlement  in  Ed- 
wards County,  notably  Morris  Birkbeck,  George  and  Richard  Flower, 


2io  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

chosen  land  will  double  in  value  in  one  day ;  and  no 
good  and  well-situated  land  will  be  worth  less  than 
10$  per  acre.  In  fact,  some  land  is  worth  10$  per 
acre  at  this  moment,  and  a  section  at  the  mouth  of 
Bon  pas  is  valued  by  the  owner  at  15$  per  acre.  I 
believe  Mr.  B.  will  purchase  it. 

I  would  not  have  upon  my  conscience  the  moral 
guilt  of  extending  Slavery  over  countries  now  free 
from  it,  for  the  whole  North  Western  Territory. 
But,  if  it  should  take  place,  I  do  not  see  why  I 
should  not  make  use  of  it.  If  I  do  not  have  serv- 
ants I  cannot  farm ;  and  there  are  no  free  labourers 
here,  except  a  few  so  worthless,  and  yet  so  haughty, 
that  an  English  Gentleman  can  do  nothing  with 
them. 

A  man  used  to  work  will  earn  in  one  day  what 
will  suffice  for  the  simple  wants  of  a  Backwoods- 
man a  whole  week.  If  he  be  sober  and  industrious, 
in  two  years  he  can  enter  a  quarter  section  of  land, 
buy  a  horse,  a  plough,  and  tools.  The  lowest  price 
for  labour  now  is  13$  per  month  with  board  and 

and  Gilbert  Pell ;  and  that  the  balance  was  finally  turned  in  favor  of 
freedom  and  against  slavery  was  due  in  no  small  measure  to  the 
efforts  of  these  men.  Birkbeck,  in  fact,  was  Coles's  main  reliance 
in  the  southern,  pro-slave  section  of  the  state.  In  October,  1824, 
when  David  Blackwell,  Secretary  of  State,  resigned  his  office,  Coles 
gave  the  place  to  Birkbeck  in  recognition  of  his  services  and  his  fit- 
ness for  it.  The  nomination  required  confirmation  by  the  Senate, 
however,  and  that  body,  having  a  pro-slave  majority,  voted  on  Jan- 
uary 15,  1825,  to  reject  the  appointee.  Birkbeck  was  thus  forced  to 
retire  after  having  served  three  months.  On  the  slavery  struggle 
of  this  period  see  William  H.  Brown,  An  Historical  Sketch  of  the 
Early  Movement  in  Illinois  for  the  Legalisation  of  Slavery  (Chicago, 
1865)  ;  Elihu  B.  Washburne,  Sketch  of  Edward  Coles,  second  gov- 
ernor of  Illinois,  and  of  the  Slavery  Struggle  of  1823-4  (Chicago, 
1882)  ;  and  George  Flower,  History  of  the  English  Settlement  in  Ed- 
wards County,  Illinois  (Chicago,  1882). 


Industrial  Conditions  211 

lodging.    I  will  give  two  years  net  proceeds  in  fig- 
ures. 

$  $ 

12   months   at   13$    .    .    .     156$      Clothing   for   two   years  — 

12   months  at   13      ...    156          say 100 

$312     One  quarter  of  land    ...  80 
One  horse  and  harness  and 

plough 100 

Axe   grubbing  hoe  &c   .    .  10 

Gun  and  powder  &c    .    .    . 15 

"$305 

After  putting  in  his  crop  of  maize,  he  can  sup- 
ply himself  with  meat  and  some  money  by  hunting, 
or  he  can  earn  $i  per  day  in  splitting  rails  for  his 
neighbours.  Many  men  begin  as  independent 
farmers  with  half  the  above  mentioned  sum,  but 
they  are  thorough  Backwoodsmen. 

Now,  is  it  not  evident  that  while  land  can  be 
bought,  no  matter  how  far  from  navigable  rivers, 
at  $2  per  acre,  and  when  there  are  tracts  they  may 
"squat"  upon  for  nothing,  that  labour  will  be  for 
many  years  limited  in  price  only  by  the  ability  of 
those  who  want  it,  to  pay  for  it.  It  is  indeed  the 
only  expence;  but  is  so  overwhelming  that  I  would 
rather  farm  in  old  England  with  a  capital  of  2  or 
3OOof  than  on  the  North  West  of  the  Ohio.  If  we 
consider  the  immense  territory  to  the  North  West 
of  us,  and  the  roving  spirit  of  the  Americans,  we 
may  wonder  that  any  work  can  be  hired.  The  truth 
is,  none  are  to  be  hired  but  Emigrants  from  the 
Eastern  States,  who  intend  to  be  land  owners  in 
one,  two,  or  three  years.  And  these  are  few  in  num- 
ber :  for  the  steady  and  prudent  earn  the  money  at 
home  and  bring  it  with  them. 


212  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

Mr.  Birkbeck's  object  is  to  settle  his  old  servants 
around  him,  and,  while  they  earn  money  to  enable 
them  to  be  independent  farmers,  he  will  get  his 
Estate  greatly  improved.  It  will  be  raised  in  value 
by  the  industrious  population  around  improving  the 
land  he  sells.  Thus  his  speculation  will  succeed; 
and  he  will  be  gratified  by  his  being  looked  up  to 
as  the  chief  of  the  Colony:  but  for  immediate,  or 
even  distant,  profit  in  money,  he  does  not  expect. 
His  English  labourers  have  already  caught  the  de- 
sire to  be  land  owners,  but  they  rely  on  his  promise 
to  let  them  have  land  when  they  can  pay  for  it  at 
2$  per  acre.  They  feel  gratified  for  this  generosity, 
which  is  in  fact  a  wise  and  liberal  policy. 

Our  colony  now  contains  between  40  and  50  per- 
sons, besides  American  settlers  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. Mr.  B.  with  great  difficulty  gets  Cabins 
erected  by  the  Backwoodsmen;  and  not  nearly  fast 
enough  for  the  demand.  His  own  people  finish 
them,  make  fences  &c.  I  cannot  convey  to  you  any 
idea  of  the  difficulties  one  meets  with  at  every  step 
in  founding  a  colony;  especially  when  food  is  to  be 
carried  on  horses,  or  a  waggon,  and  a  road  to  be 
made  12  miles  to  a  river,  where  it  is  to  be  unloaded 
from  boats  on  to  land  the  property  of  a  stranger, 
and  which  is  unsettled.  Then  every  article  must  be 
slightly  covered  in  a  Camp,  and  guarded,  or  ex- 
posed to  the  cupidity  of  the  boatmen  or  hunters. 
Horses  are  to  be  broken  in  to  work  together ;  wag- 
gons, carts,  and  ploughs  to  be  made,  or  brought  sev- 
eral days  journey.  Even  when  they  are  ordered, 


Industrial  Conditions  213' 

there  is  no  certainty  of  the  order  being  executed: 
for  the  Smith  has  no  iron;  you  buy  it,  then  he  has 
no  coal.  The  Wheelwright  is  gone  a  hunting,  or 
is  drunk,  or  attending  a  lawsuit.  The  Sadler  and 
collar  maker  will  sell  the  articles  you  have  ordered 
to  the  first  comer.  —  You  are  sure  of  nothing;  not 
even  when  you  go  for  it  yourself;  except  at  Har- 
monic where  business  is  done,  when  they  have  time, 
with  great  regularity. 

Mr.  Birkbeck  has  fifty  acres  fenced.  He  has  sunk 
two  wells  20  or  30  feet,  and  found  coal  instead  of 
water.  He  must  try  elsewhere.  I  Have  one  cabin 
covered  in,  and  one  house  of  hewn  logs  nearly  done 
for .  There  is  a  small  spring  near  his  house. 

Some  of  Mr.  Birkbeck's  men  are  sick.  I  have  all 
mine,  except  a  frenchman,  engaged  by  the  job ;  and 
they  are  all  well.  I  expect  an  additional  force  from 
Harmonic  of  3  men  and  2  women,  just  arrived  from 
Switzerland.  They  are  good  looking  people,  and 
one  speaks  a  little  french.1  .  .  . 

A  message  from  the  prairie  informs  me,  that  8 
backwoodsmen  are  gone  to  drive  off  some  Indians 
from  a  creek  near  my  line.  They  have  killed  20 
does  in  one  day.  If  the  Indians  resist  they  will  be 
murdered. 

1  The  most  notable  settlement  of  Swiss  people  in  the  West  was 
that  at  Vevay,  Indiana.  In  1802  John  James  Du  Four  obtained  from 
Congress  a  grant  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  acres  of  land  on 
the  Ohio  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  an  experimental  colony  for 
the  culture  of  the  vine.  A  considerable  number  of  settlers  were 
brought  over  from  the  Swiss  district  of  Vevay,  and  in  1813  the  Indi- 
ana town  of  Vevay,  in  Switzerland  County,  was  laid  out.  Descend- 
ants of  these  original  settlers  own  most  of  the  land  about  the  town 
today.  William  Tell  Harris,  in  1817,  gives  a  good  characterization 
of  the  settlement  (Remarks,  pp.  126-127). 


214  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

I  have  been  here  two  days  since  my  return  from 
Kentucky,  ill  from  riding  in  the  sun.  But  I  shall 
go  to  the  Prairie  tomorrow  or  Robert  W.  will  be 
uneasy.  He  lives  in  my  cabin  and  takes  care  of 
the  provisions  and  stores.  I  shall  put  it  into  a  de- 
fensible state,  if  any  mischief  has  been  done;  but  I 
shall  be  under  no  personal  apprehensions;  for  be- 
sides being  known  to  a  great  many  Indians,  I  can 
bring  down  deer,  birds  and  squirrels  at  every  shot 
with  my  rifle.  I  have  done  harm  to  none,  and  I 
have  not  the  least  fear  that  any  will  do  harm  to 
me. 

In  my  late  visit  to  Kentucky  I  have  become  ac- 
quainted with  several  respectable  families.  Mr.  A. 
received  us  with  great  kindness  and  hospitality.  I 
will  describe  our  reception,  and  it  will  answer  for 
all  the  rest  of  our  visits.  We  alighted  at  the  Inn  at 

Henderson1  and  sent  for  Mr.  B .    Mr.  A.  came 

with  him  and  took  us  to  his  house,  a  neatly  fur- 
nished cabin-built  cottage.  We  then  sent  for  our 

horses.      M™.    A ordered    a    second    dinner. 

Toddy,  ice  and  fruit  were  handed  about.  A  foot- 
man shewed  me  to  my  room,  and  then  acted  as  valet 
de  chambre. 


1  Henderson,  as  well  as  the  county  in  which  the  town  is  situated, 
took  its  name  from  Colonel  Richard  Henderson,  a  Virginian  who 
had  an  important  part  in  the  early  settlement  of  Kentucky.  It  was 
also  known  as  Red  Banks,  and  sometimes  as  Hendersonville. 
Audubon,  the  famous  naturalist,  having  failed  as  a  merchant  in 
Louisville,  took  up  his  residence  at  Henderson  in  1812,  though  he 
did  not  become  known  to  the  outside  world  until  fourteen  or  fifteen 
years  later.  Woods  (Two  Years'  Residence)  records  that  in  1820 
the  town  contained  about  a  hundred  dwellings,  together  with  a 
court-house,  a  jail,  a  steam  mill,  and  several  tobacco  warehouses 
(EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  p.  252). 


Industrial  Conditions  215 

My  dirty  shirt,  cravat,  &c,  was  taken  possession 
of  by  the  laundress.  At  dinner,  every  thing  in  pro- 
fusion;—  but  no  imported  luxuries.  Ice  was  placed 
on  the  butter  and  on  the  water  and  in  the  water 
jug.  Whisky  and  Toddy  instead  of  Wine.  Supper 
—  much  the  same,  with  the  addition  of  tea  and  cof- 
fee,—  the  only  imported  luxuries  in  the  house;  Mr. 
A.'s  garden  and  icehouse  furnished  all  the  rest.  My 
bed  was  delightfully  adapted  for  a  warm  climate; 
sheets  like  gauze,  and  gauze  mosquito  curtains 
around  it. 

We  visited  Judge  T ,  Mr.  H ,  Mr.  A s 

and  Gen.  H ,  members  of  Congress.  Not  one  of 

these  gentlemen  live  in  so  good  a  house  as  that  of 

our  baker  at  in  England.  Gen.  H has 

1 60  negroes,  who  live  in  cottages  on  the  skirts  of 
the  farm  of  500  acres,  which  is  cut  out  of  immense 
and  dark  forests.  In  the  centre  of  this  clearing 
are  the  old  rotten  cabins  which  are  occupied  by  the 
General  and  his  genteelly  dressed  daughters ;  to  each 
of  whom  he  gives  10  negroes  and  a  farm,  for  a 
marriage  portion. 

Many  gentlemen  live  just  as  well  as  the  General, 
who  have  only  70  or  80  acres  of  productive  land. 

The  Kentuckians  are  so  hospitable  that  they  will 
stop  you  on  the  road,  and  oblige  you  to  go  to  their 
houses,  if  they  have  ever  seen  you  in  respectable 
society. 

This  has  happened  to  me,  and  I  have  not  been 
suffered  to  pursue  my  journey  till  I  had  promised 
to  call  again  and  sleep. 


216  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

Though  the  houses  near  Henderson  are  bad,  there 
are  good  gardens  and  icehouses;  and  cleanliness, 
which  strongly  contrasts  with  the  dirty  Ohio  houses, 
and  the  Indiana  and  Illinois  pigsties,  in  which  men 
women  and  children  wallow  in  promiscuous  filth. 
But  the  Kentuckians  have  servants;  and  whatever 
may  be  the  future  consequences  of  Slavery,  the 
present  effects  are  in  these  respects  most  agreeable 
and  beneficial.  A  Kentuckian  farmer  has  the  man- 
ners of  a  gentleman ;  he  is  more  or  less  refined  ac- 
cording to  his  education,  but  there  is  generally  a 
grave,  severe,  dignity  of  deportment  in  the  men  of 
middle  age,  which  prepossesses,  and  commands  re- 
spect. .  .  . 

I  thought  I  was  Mosquito  proof  last  year ;  but  in 
sleeping  at  the  mouth  of  the  Bon  pas  3  weeks  ago, 
I  was  terribly  bitten.  I  have  been  exposed  to  their 
attacks  once  since,  and  my  body  is  covered  with 
swellings,  which  itch  intolerably.  After  the  skin 
is  once  inoculated  and  saturated  with  the  poison 
of  these  insects,  their  bites  have  but  little  ef- 
fect. .  .  . 

I  am  not  at  present  very  well.  The  weather  is 
very  hot.  —  Therm:  90°.  —  the  sky  clear:  —  if  a 
cloud  passes  once  a  week,  a  thunder  gust  drives  it 
off.  We  have  had  a  slight  shock  of  an  Earthquake. 

A  Prussian  Baron  B ,  who  was  five  years 

Minister  at  the  Court  of  Louis  15,  is  coming  to 
visit  me. 


XV 

Mr.  Birkbeck's  book  —  A  journal  of  ten  days  —  A  fourth  of  July 
celebration  —  The  coming  struggle  over  slavery  in  Illinois  — 
Acts  of  Congress  regarding  Illinois  —  A  projected  trip  up  the 
Red  River  —  Character  of  the  backwoodsman  —  High  regard 
for  Englishmen  —  The  life  of  the  hunters  on  the  Wabash  — 
The  hunters  on  the  Missouri  —  Men  needed  to  develop  the 
wilderness. 

Princeton  July  6th.  1818. 

You  have  read  Mr.  Birkbeck's  book.1  —  It  is  correct 
as  far  as  it  goes ;  but  it  is  the  sketch  of  a  traveller, 
who  tells  the  truth  when  he  finds  it.  But,  Truth, 
grotto  loving  Goddess,  is  not  often  to  be  seen,  ex- 
cept by  glimpses,  by  a  Traveller.  Mr.  B.  could  now 
write  a  better  book  if  he  would;  but,  in  describing 
this  country,  all  he  would  say  of  the  manners  of  the 
people,  would  be  tinctured  by  his  preconceived  no- 
tions. Sketches  in  general  have  hitherto  been  too 
sunny. 

I  will  give  you  my  journal  of  the  last  ten  days. 

June  26th. — Went  with  Mr.  R ,  just  arrived 

from  England,  to  our  settlement.  Before  we  left 
Princeton  filled  our  pockets  with  biscuits,  and  car- 
ried two  sacks  of  corn  (maize)  for  our  horses.  At 

Coffee  Island  Swamp  Mr.  R was  astonished 

that  I  left  the  road  and  all  visible  track,  to  go 
through  a  part  that  was  not  so  deep  a  bog.  He  of- 
fered me  his  compass,  which  I,  a  little  vain  of  my 
hunting  instincts,  declined  using.  —  We  came  out  2 
miles  from  the  place  we  entered  exactly  where  the 
road  passes  between  the  two  ponds. 

1  See  p.  176,  note. 

14 


218  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

2fh.     Hunting  land  with  Mr.  R .     Did  not 

find  any  that  quite  pleased  us.  Crossed  the  Pianke- 
shaw  Prairie  at  noon  —  Sun  —  burning  hot. 

Reached  Mr.  Q 's  Cabin  just  at  dinner  time 

—  it  is  floored  and  carpetted.  It  is  made  of  Hickory 
logs,  and  is  ornamented  with  large  mirrors  in 
gilded  frames,  a  handsome  four  post  bedstead  &c. 
It  looked  like  a  fairy  bower  in  the  wilderness. 

28th.     Started  alone  at  daybreak  from  my  own 

humble  cabin  and  went  to  B of  Burke's  prairie.1 

Taking  my  departure  from  thence  I  plunged  into 
the  trackless  woods,  having  my  surveying  compass 

and  maps  with  me.     Ran  the  lines  through 's 

Prairie;  and  noted  some  fine  land  to  be  bought 
for  him.  Returned  at  night  weary  and  hungry  to 
Burke's  Cabin ;  where  I  found  nothing  but  a  hearty 
welcome  to  corn  cake  and  some  sweet  milk,  which 

M".  B said  she  had  kept  sweet  because  I  liked 

it  so,  better  than  sour. 

2^th.     B accompanied  me  to  the  Banks  of 

the  Little  Wabash.  He  went  fishing  while  I  swam 
across  the  river.  Not  liking  the  growth  of  timber 
there,  I  returned,  and  he  took  me  a  few  miles  up  the 
stream,  to  a  rich  bottom,  where  I  took  notes  of  480 

acres  of  land  to  be  entered  for  my  uncle  K . 

B shewed  me  this  day  how  to  entice  does  by 

bleating.    But  though  he  could  bring  the  beautiful 

1  Properly,  Birks's  Prairie.  This  prairie  was  a  long,  narrow  belt 
comprising  about  four  thousand  acres  of  excellent  land  and  situated 
three  miles  west  of  the  English  Prairie.  It  took  its  name  from  its 
earliest  resident,  Jeremiah  Birks,  a  Kentuckian  who,  after  the  in- 
flux of  English  settlers  in  the  vicinity,  moved  on  across  the  Mis- 
sissippi. 


Journal  at  Princeton  219 

affectionate  looking  creatures  within  twenty  steps, 
and  leveled  his  unerring  rifle  several  times,  he 
would  not  shoot  one.  Yet  there  was  no  meat  in 
his  cabin  and  we  lived  this  day  on  squirrels.  We 
saw  fresh  signs  of  Bears  in  many  places,  but  could 
not  put  one  up.  Chased  a  wolf  half  a  mile  without 
success.  Returned  well  pleased  with  my  day's  work. 

July  2d.  Went  to  Princeton  (40  miles)  for  let- 
ters. Met  Messrs. and ,  English  visitors 

to  our  Prairie. 

July  4th.  Anniversary  of  independance.  Last 
night  I  assisted  in  raising  the  flag  of  liberty  in  the 
public  square,  which  this  morning  waved  proudly 
over  the  group  of  young  citizens  assembled  there 
to  celebrate  the  day  with  festal  games.  The  young 
men  of  the  more  respectable  class  gave  a  ball  to 
all  the  damsels  of  the  village  and  the  vicinity.  It 
commenced  at  three  o'clock. 

Some  few  of  the  girls  were  really  handsome,  and 
all  were  well  dressed  and  appeared  to  be  very  happy. 
English  country  dances,  or  sets  as  they  are  called 
were  attempted  without  success.  In  reels  and  cotil- 
lions they  were  quite  at  home. 

In  this  land  of  equality  it  is  very  difficult  to  keep 
improper  persons  out  of  a  public  or  even  a  private 
party.  This  evening  some  of  the  young  men  armed 
themselves  with  Dirks  (poignards  worn  under  the 
clothes)  to  resist  the  intrusion  of  the  Militia,  as  the 
vulgar  are  contemptuously  called.  Unluckily  one  of 
our  party  was  electioneering,  and  treated  some  hunt- 
ers in  the  bar  room  with  rum. 


22O  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

We  supped  in  the  open  air  at  7,  and  afterwards 
continued  the  dance  till  ten.  After  supper  several 
attempts  were  made  by  some  shabby  looking  fel- 
lows to  come  in,  but  they  were  prevented  by  the 
bar-keeper.  The  dancers  kept  it  up  most  indefati- 
gably,  in  spite  of  heat  almost  equal  to  that  of  the 
West  Indies.  In  going  away  some  of  the  gentle- 
men were  insulted  by  the  rabble,  but  the  rumour 
that  they  were  armed  with  dirks  and  pistols  pre- 
vented serious  mischief.  In  the  night  a  large  win- 
dow was  smashed  to  pieces,  and  the  frame  driven 
into  the  house. 

The  female  part  of  the  Company  were  all  well 
dressed,  but  their  birth  and  education  as  different  as 
possible.  The  daughter  of  a  proud  and  poor  Vir- 
ginian stood  next  the  heiress  of  a  bricklayer's  for- 
tune :  An  English  adventurer  danced  with  the  wife 
of  a  member  of  the  legislature;  the  maker  of 
laws  with  the  daughter  of  a  lawless  hunter:  and  a 
major  of  militia  led  out  the  only  female  servant  in 
the  inn,  and  who  was  obliged  to  leave  the  party  to 
help,  not  her  mistress  but  the  tavern-keeper's  wife, 
to  set  out  the  supper  table. 

July  5th.  This  day  being  Sunday  was  spent  by 
the  young  men  in  visiting  their  mistresses  and  talk- 
ing politics. 

I  am  going  tomorrow  across  the  Wabash,  and, 
probably,  the  next  day  I  shall  cross  the  Little  Wa- 
bash to  "hunt  land." 

Today  the  people  of  the  Illinois  meet  to  choose 
members  of  a  convention  to  frame  a  constitution. 


Journal  at  Princeton  221 

There  will  be  a  grand  struggle  between  those  who 
are  for,  and  those  who  are  against  Slavery.  Num- 
bers are  nearly  balanced ;  but  the  advocates  of  Slave- 
holding  gain  strength  daily. 

Congress  has  granted  to  the  people  of  the  Illi- 
nois power  to  form  a  constitution,  although  there 
are  but  35,000  inhabitants  scattered  over  a  tract 
400  miles  long  and  200  miles  wide.  Congress  has 
enlarged  the  limits  of  the  state  northwardly,  so  as 
to  embrace  60  miles  of  the  shore  on  the  western 
side  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  has  given  up  the  advan- 
tages to  be  drawn  from  its  Salt  works,  which  are 
the  best  in  the  United  States.  With  these  conces- 
sions it  has  forbidden  Slavery,  according  to  its  Or- 
dinance for  the  Government  of  the  North  Western 
Territory.  But  the  people  here  are  utterly  regard- 
less of  ordinances,  and  will  take  the  subject  into 
their  own  hands,  and  say  they  will  make  a  treaty 
with  Congress  as  an  independent  State. 

Liberty  is  the  watchword  of  the  popular  or  dem- 
ocratic party,  and  in  their  vocabulary  it  means  any 
thing  and  every  thing.  It  has  no  limits  but  the 
weakness  of  man,  no  boundary  but  that  of  his  de- 
sires. To  right  oneself  by  violence,  to  oppose  force 
to  force,  is  reckoned  a  virtue  here;  and  woe  to  the 
man  who  is  suspected  of  cowardice. 

If  particular  circumstances  had  not  happened  I 
should  probably  have  gone  up  the  Natchitoches  or 
Red  River  on  a  trading  expedition  to  the  Osage 
Nation.1  An  honest  little  doctor  of  Princeton  was 

1  Thomas  Nuttall,  during  the  course  of  his  travels  in  the  Arkan- 


222  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

out  last  winter  600  miles  up  the  Red  River,  and 
made  a  profitable  trip  of  it.  He  likes  the  Country 
so  well  that  he  is  going  to  take  his  young  wife  and 
infant,  tiis  father  in  law,  and  his  wife's  brothers 
and  sister,  with  him,  to  settle  on  that  remote  fron- 
tier, 300  miles  above  the  town  of  Natchitoches.  I 
had  almost  engaged  to  go  with  an  expert  hunter 
and  Indian  trader,  a  second  Drewyer  or  Clarke, 

when  Dr.  P told  me  of  his  plan.  This  seemed 

to  add  safety  to  enterprise ;  and  we  reckoned  on  en- 
gaging a  large  boat's  crew  to  carry  with  us  arms, 
beaver  traps  and  Indian  goods,  and  to  make  it  a 
trading  expedition  on  my  part,  a  hunting  one  on 

J 's,  and  to  facilitate  Dr.  P to  settle  with 

his  family.  If  I  liked  the  adventure,  I  should  return 
in  the  ensuing  fall  of  the  year,  and  buy  the  furs 

which  J and  P would  by  hunting  and  by 

barter  be  able  to  procure. 

Our  market  would  have  been  New  Orleans  or 
New  York,  according  to  circumstances.  If  New 
York,  I  should  go  there  by  sea  from  N.  Orleans, 
purchase  Indian  fittings,  take  them  by  land  to  Pitts- 
burg,  thence  down  the  Ohio,  and  the  Mississippi, 
and  up  the  Red  River  to  our  station  on  Pocoon 
point.  .  .  " . 

Lax  morals;  few  principles,  but  those  deeply  im- 
pressed on  the  mind ;  a  careless  haughtiness  of  man- 
ner, without  any  affectation,  or  consequential  airs; 
and  a  quick  perception  of  the  ridiculous  —  these  are 

sas  territory  in  1819,  visited  the  Red  River  country  and  the  lands 
of  the  Osages.  A  good  account  may  be  found  in  his  Journal  (EARLY 
WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xiii,  pp.  235-240,  245-262). 


Journal  at  Princeton  223' 

some  of  the.  characteristics  of  a  man  born  and  raised 
in  the  backwoods.  The  fondness  for  ridicule  is  re- 
markable in  the  Kentuckians,  as  well  as  their  pa- 
tience in  taking  a  joke.  But  try  to  offend,  and  a 
knife  or  a  dirk  is  drawn  and  aimed  in  an  instant. 

Mr.  S wears  one,  when  among  strangers,  ten 

inches  long  in  the  blade.  He  is  so  avowedly  fond  of 
ridiculing  unworthiness,  that  he  confesses  it  is  one 
of  the  greatest  pleasures  of  his  life,  to  laugh  at  and 
despise  a  scoundrel.  —  There  is  plenty  of  food  for 
his  spleen  in  this  country. 

Some  of  our  Englishmen  have  won  the  Kindness 

of  the  Americans  almost  by  surprise.  G and 

Mr.  B have  both  become  favorites  in  a  few 

days.  A  Kentuckian  suspects  nobody  but  a  Yan- 
kee, whom  he  considers  as  a  sort  of  Jesuit.  An  Eng- 
lishman is  one  of  that  nation  with  whom  he  is  proud 
to-  contend  in  the  field  of  battle.  Comes  he  as  a 
visitor?  he  is  received  courteously;  as  a  settler? — 
with  frank  hospitality  and  kindness.  But  if  he 
thinks  to  flatter  them  by  declaiming  against  his  old 
country,  he  will  be  listened  to  with  suspicion  and 
contempt.  You  please  them  by  openly  avowing 
your  affection  and  even  your  prejudice  in  favour 
of  Old  England,  if  you  admit  at  the  same  time  that 
you  do  not  approve  of  all  the  acts  of  the  British 
Government. 

I  fear  you  will  find  this  a  dull  letter,  but  I  am  so 

racked  with  anxiety  to  see that  I  can  attend 

to  nothing.  I  must  take  my  rifle  and  my  horse 
and  bury  myself  for  another  week  in  the  forests 


224  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

with  B .  He  is  a  fine  fellow.  There  are  traits 

of  kindness  in  his  character,  which  soften  down 
the  sterner  features  of  a  ranger.  Three  Indians 
with  their  wives  were  killed  at  the  South  end  of 

the  English  prairie  15  months  ago.  B had 

moved  them  off  his  hunting  ground,  but  would  not 
kill  them,  in  pity  of  their  wives.  Three  others  25 
miles  further  off  came  after  them,  killed  all  six,  and 

buried  them  in  our  Prairie.  B said  his  hand 

should  never  be  stained  with  woman's  blood. 

I  have  been  at  these  hunters'  cabins,  and  found 
them  almost  without  food  of  any  kind.  A  deer  or 
a  turkey  has  been  brought  in  at  nightfall ;  each  has 
cut  off  the  part  he  liked  best,  stuck  it  on  a  sharpened 
stick  which  he  has  inserted  between  the  logs  of  the 
chimney,  and  so  roasted  it.  The  best  skins  and 
blankets  have  been  chosen  for  me.  The  broken  fid- 
dle, and  a  cup  of  metheglin  made  of  wild  honey, 
have  been  produced;  and  dances,  songs  and  mirth 
have  lasted  till  past  midnight.  I  have  been  obliged 
to  get  up  and  dance  with  them,  such  has  been  the 
intolerable  noise.  Living  all  together  in  one  room, 
they  have  no  notion  that  silence  is  necessary  to  a 
sleepy  man :  and,  having  no  society  and  no  regular 
engagements,  night  and  day  are  alike  to  them. 

The  hunters  on  the  Missouri  are,  I  am  told,  a 
more  abandoned  set  than  those  on  the  Wabash. 
They  live  entirely  under  the  shelter  of  a  blanket  or 
the  bark  of  trees,  and  are  never  nearer  to  each 
other  than  9  or  10  miles,  and  moving  every  week 
or  two.  They  trap  a  great  many  beavers  and  by 


Journal  at  Princeton  22$ 

this  are  enabled  to  buy  spirits.  They  are  more  like 
the  amphibious  race  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  who 
are  by  turns  hunters,  boatmen,  and  farmers,  and 
to  whom  robbing,  violence  and  even  murder,  are 
familiar. 

Instead  of  being  more  virtuous,  as  he  is  less  re- 
fined, I  am  inclined  to  think  that  man's  virtues 
are  like  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  only  excellent  when 
subjected  to  culture.  The  force  of  this  simile  you 
will  never  feel,  till  you  ride  in  these  woods  over  wild 
strawberries,  which  die  your  horse's  fetlocks  like 
blood  yet  are  insipid  in  flavour;  till  you  have  seen 
waggon  loads  of  grapes,  choked  by  the  bramble 
and  the  poisonous  vine ;  till  you  find  peaches,  taste- 
less as  a  turnip,  and  roses  throwing  their  leaves  of 
every  shade  upon  the  winds,  with  scarcely  a  scent 
upon  them.  Tis  the  hand  of  man  that  makes  the 
wilderness  shine.  His  footsteps  must  be  found  in 
the  scene  that  is  supremely  &  lastingly  beautiful. 


XVI 

Opportunities  for  English  settlers  in  the  West  —  Sacrifices  and 
comforts  of  frontier  life — Places  of  settlement  recommended 
for  various  classes  of  English  emigrants  —  Expenses  of  living  — 
Servitude. 

Princeton  August  24.  1818. 

You  ask  me,  can  a  farmer  with  a  capital  of  £250 
live  comfortably  in  this  country?  —  Certainly  much 
more  comfortably  than  he  can  in  England,  if  he  has 
only  £250,  and  no  friends  to  lend  him  £2,000  in  ad- 
dition to  it,  or  his  friends  are  unwilling  to  help 
him.  It  is  only  a  matter  of  choice  then  between 
servitude  and  independance.  But  there  is  no  com- 
fort here  for  the  poor  man  beyond  coarse  food  in 
plenty,  coarse  clothing,  log  huts,  and  the  pleasure 
of  repose  earned  by  hard  work.  If  the  industrious 
farmer  invest  his  capital  in  Land  and  Hogs  in  the 
Illinois,  these  will  pay  him  50  per  cent,  and  that 
25  per  cent,  per  ann.  for  several  succeeding  years. 
But  perhaps  he  must  carry  his  horse-load  of  wheat 
30  miles  to  the  mill,  —  and  his  wife,  if  he  have  one, 
must  make  biscuits  of  it  on  his  return.  This  is 
not  consistent  with  English  notions  of  comfort,  but 
it  is  certain  the  backsettler  is  happier  than  the 
wretch,  who  is  condemned  to  crouch  to  haughty 
landlords,  to  dread  the  oft  repeated  visit  of  the 
tytheman,  the  taxgatherer,  and  the  overseer. 

If  a  man  can  live  within  his  income  without 
losing  his  rank  in  society,  and  without  being  forced 
to  borrow  of  those  who  think  they  oblige  by  lend- 


The  English  Emigrant  227 

ing;  if  he  can  pay  the  overwhelming  taxes,  which 
the  English  Ministry  have  so  thoughtlessly  squan- 
dered in  making  the  English  name  hated  to  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth :  there  are  in  England 
comforts,  nay,  sources  of  happiness,  which  will  for 
ages  be  denied  to  these  half  savage  countries,  good 
houses,  good  roads,  a  mild  and  healthy  climate, 
healthy,  because  the  country  is  old,  society,  the  arts 
of  life  carried  almost  to  perfection,  and  Laws  well 
administered. 

"  Blest  he, —  who  dwells  secure 
"  Where  Man,  by  Nature  fierce,  has  laid  aside 
"His  fierceness;  having  learnt,  though  slow  to  learn, 
"  The  Manners  and  the  Arts  of  civil  life." 

I  will  loosely  classify  English  Emigrants,  and 
point  out  the  sections  of  country,  in  which  each 
will  find  the  greatest  number  of  advantages.1 

The  English  Country  Gentleman,  —  may  settle  in 
Virginia,  district  of  Columbia,  Maryland,  New  Jer- 
sey, and  the  lower  part  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  genteel  farmer  —  in  Kentucky. 

The  rich  yeoman  —  in  Kentucky,  Missouri,  Ten- 
essee,  and  Appalachicola.2 

1  Flint,  in  his  Letters  from  America,  gives  an  estimate  of  the  com- 
parative  advantages   offered   to   English   emigrants   by   the  several 
sections  of  the  United  States  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  ix,  pp.  181- 
194).     Fearon,   in   his   Sketches    (pp.   445-449),   has   an   interesting 
discussion   of  the  classes  of  people   whose  betterment  in  America 
could   be   reasonably   assured,   and   who,   therefore,   should   be  en- 
couraged to  emigrate.    These  classes  were  (i)  the  extremely  poor, 
who  could  immediately  change  their  state  from  that  of  paupers  to 
that   of   independent    laborers;    (2)    mechanics   whose   income   was 
small    and    uncertain ;    and    (3)    small    farmers   having    families   to 
support. 

2  By  Appalachicola  Fordham  means  the  region  in  general  about 
the  river  of  that  name,  between  the  southern  boundary  of  Tennes- 
see and  the  Gulf. 


228  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

The  poor  farmer  —  with  a  capital  of  £300  &  up- 
wards, —  in  Illinois  and  Indiana. 

Ditto,  —  if  unmarried,  —  in  Missouri,  the  lower 
parts  of  Kentucky  and  Appalouchia  j1  because  in 
these  countries  he  can  have  servants. 

Mechanics,  —  if  masters  of  the  most  useful  trade, 
and  capitalists,  —  always  in  the  most  settled  parts 
of  the  Western  Country,  and  generally  in  the  Slave 
States. 

Ditto  —  inferior  workmen,  —  or  without  money, 
—  in  the  new  towns  on  the  frontiers. 

Engineers,  smiths,  founders,  millwrights,  and 
turners,  may  find  employment  in  the  larger  towns 
on  the  Ohio. 

Shopkeepers,  and  makers  and  dealers  of  articles 
of  luxury,  should  never  cross  the  mountains. 

I  cannot  think  that  any  elderly  man,  especially 
if  he  have  a  family  delicately  brought  up,  would 
live  comfortably  in  a  free  state.  In  a  slave  State, 
if  he  have  wealth,  say,  5ooo£  and  upwards,  he  may 
raise  upon  his  own  farm  all  the  food  and  raiment, 
the  latter  manufactured  at  home,  necessary  to  sup- 
ply the  wants  of  his  own  family. 

This  has  been,  till  lately,  the  universal  economy 
of  the  first  Kentucky  families.  Thus,  without  liv- 
ing more  expensively  than  in  a  free  state,  a  family 
may  have  the  comforts  of  domestic  services,  and  yet 
find  plenty  of  employment  within  doors ;  not  sordid 
slavery  that  wears  out  the  health,  and  depresses  the 

1  Appalouchia  was  a  name  sometimes  used  in  the  early  part  of  the 
last  century  to  designate  in  a  loose  way  the  region  now  comprised 
in  Oklahoma,  Indian  Territory,  and  eastern  Texas. 


The  English  Emigrant  229 

spirits  of  Ohio,  but  useful  yet  light  labours,  that 
may  be  remitted  and  resumed  at  pleasure.  * 

There  is  more  difference  between  the  manners  of 
the  female  sex  on  the  East  and  West  sides  of  the 
Ohio  River  than  on  the  East  and  West  shores  of 
the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Servitude  in  any  form  is  an 
evil,  but  the  structure  of  civilized  society  is  raised 
upon  it.  If  the  minds  of  women  are  left  unim- 
proved, their  morals  will  be  at  the  mercy  of  any 
man.  It  is  much  worse  where  there  is  no  superior 
rank  to  influence  them  by  example,  or  to  awe  them 
by  disapprobation.  I  am  conscious  that  I  repeat 
again  and  again  the  same  arguments  —  or  rather  I 
state  similar  facts;  but  it  is  an  important  subject. 

Society  may  suffer  more  by  the  abjectness  of 
Slaves  than  by  the  want  of  servants,  and  a  father 
of  a  family  would  prefer  to  live  where  there  are 
good  free  servants  as  in  Europe,  or  where  slaves 
have  more  liberty  of  action  than  servants,  as  in 
Kentucky.  The  question  in  these  wildernesses  is 
this:  Shall  we  have  civilization  and  refinement, 
or  sordid  manners  and  semi-barbarism,  till  time 
shall  produce  so  much  inequality  of  condition  that 
the  poor  man  must  serve  the  rich  man  for  his  daily 
bread  ? 

Mess".  F.  and  W.  R arrived  here  yesterday. 

I  go  with  them  to-day  to  the  prairies.  .  .  . 


XVII 

The  prevalence  of  intermittent  fevers  —  The  climate  of  Illinois  — 
Lung  troubles  almost  unknown. 

Shawnee  Oct.  17.  1818. 

SOON  after 's  arrival  at  the  prairie  I  fell  sick, 

and  indeed  throughout  the  Settlement  there  were 
more  sick  than  well.  G had  brought  no  medi- 
cines with  him  and  mine  were  almost  all  used  or 
given  away,  and  the  nearest  Physician  was  thirty 
miles  off.  My  fever  reduced  me  to  a  state  of  ex- 
treme weakness,  but  my  nurse,  by  constantly  sup- 
plying me  with  corn  meal  gruel  and  chicken  broth 
prevented  me  from  sinking  under  the  violence  of 
my  disorder. 

The  fever  soon  became  a  regular  intermittent, 
of  which  I  was  soon  cured  by  bark  and  laudanum. 

These  intermittent  fevers  are  the  Scourges  of 
new  Settlements  in  the  Western  Country.  They 
are  seldom  dangerous  and  are  much  under  the  pow- 
er of  medicine,  but  ought  to  be  considered  by  Emi- 
grants as  unavoidable.  When  provided  for,  they 
are  slight  and  of  little  consequence. 

The  first  year  may  be  passed  by  a  careful  or  ro- 
bust person  without  receiving  any  injury  from  the 
climate,  but  in  the  second  the  system  becomes  re- 
laxed by  heat.  I  cannot  explain  how,  but  I  can 
state  the  fact  as  related  to  me,  and  confirmed  by 
my  own  experience,  that  those  who  come  from 
Northern  and  healthy  climates  will  in  these  South- 


Climate  and  Health  23'! 

ern  latitudes  suffer  a  change  of  constitution,  and 
that  this  change  will  be  produced  or  accomplished 
by  a  fit  of  sickness.  This  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at,  when  we  consider  that  for  some  weeks  in  the 
year  the  air  is  a  perfect  hot  bath,  and,  for  another 
period  of  equal  duration  the  cold  causes  the  quick- 
silver to  sink  8°.  below  zero  in  Fahrenheit's  Ther- 
mometer. 

The  Western  Americans,  especially  the  poorer 
class,  are  likewise  very  subject  to  febrile  diseases. 
Their  irregular  way  of  living,  their  intemperance, 
the  great  mental  excitement  which  to  them  is  pleas- 
ure, produced  by  gambling,  racing,  fighting  and 
moving,  wear  their  constitutions.  Their  lean  car- 
casses, their  pale  and  eager  countenances,  early  in 
life  marked  with  wrinkles,  and  their  reckless  air, 
shew  them  to  be  adventurers,  to  whom  anything  is 
more  welcome  than  plodding  industry;  to  whom 
risk  and  danger  is  the  preferable  road  to  wealth, 
and  the  only  path  to  honour.  .  .  . 

The  leaves  are  now  falling.  We  have  fine  de- 
lightful weather  with  frosty  nights.  The  woods  are 
beautifully1  The  Ohio  is  low.  I  have  crossed  it 
twice  this  morning,  and  never  saw  it  look  so  calmly 
beautiful.  The  canoe  scarcely  left  a  ripple  behind 
it  and  seemed  to  glide  without  impulse  through  the 
transparent  stream. 

The  climate  of  the  Illinois  is  more  agreeable  than 
that  of  England.  The  sky  is  brighter,  the  air  more 
transparent,  but  at  present,  less  healthy.  The  coun- 

iThe  sentence  stands  thus  incomplete  in  the  manuscript. 


232  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

try  is  intersected  with  innumerable  streams  whose 
overflowings  produce  swamps,  which  partially  dry 
up  in  the  summer,  filling  the  air  with  mosquitoes  and 
noxious  effluvia.  There  are  situations  elevated  and 
remote  from  stagnant  waters,  such  as  the  English 
Prairie.  But  even  here  English  Emigrants  ought 
to  expect  to  suffer  a  seasoning,  before  they  can  be 
inured  to  the  changes  of  the  weather.  These 
changes  are  less  sudden  with  us  than  in  the  state  of 
Ohio,  and  become  less  and  less  so  as  we  advance 
southward  and  southwestward,  till  in  Appalouchie 
500  miles  west  of  the  Mississippi,  a  climate  is  found 
of  medium  temperature;  the  summers  being  cooled 
by  the  breezes  from  the  snowy  mountains  of  Mex- 
ico, and  the  northern  winds  are  tempered  by  pass- 
ing over  the  Prairies  of  the  Missouri. 

You  will  take  into  consideration,  that  disorders 
of  the  lungs  are  here  almost  unknown,  and  that 
those  who  are  already  invalids  are  quite  as  likely  to 
improve  as  to  injure  their  constitutions  by  remov- 
ing to  this  Country.  I  am  more  strong  and  healthy 
than  I  was  in  England,  and  I  should  probably  have 
escaped  the  seasoning  sickness,  if  the  summer  had 
not  been  uncommonly  hot  and  wet.  When  good 
houses  are  erected,  roads  opened,  and  mills  built, 
the  health  of  the  people  will  be  much  better.  .  .  . 


XVIII 

The  town  of  Albion  planned  —  Continued  surveying  —  The  sur- 
rounding prairies  —  Prairie  fires  —  Instructions  for  Emigrants : 
Capital  required  —  Paying  occupations  —  Clothing  to  be  brought 
—  Blankets  a  good  investment  —  Travelling  in  the  steerage  — 
The  journey  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg  —  Down  the  Ohio 
to  the  Illinois  Country. 

English  Prairie  Oct.  jo.  1818. 
I  AM  laying  off  a  new  town  to  be  called  Albion.1 
It  will  consist  of  8  streets  and  a  public  square.  Most 
likely  it  will  be  the  County  Town,  and  if  so,  there 
will  be  a  Court  house  and  a  gaol,  as  well  as  a  Mar- 
ket house  and  a  Chapel,  which  last  will  be  built 
whether  it  be  the  seat  of  justice  or  not.  I  wished 
to  have  sent  you  a  plan  of  this  town,  but  I  cannot 
spare  the  time.  I  have  never  been  more  busily  em- 
ployed in  my  life  than  I  am  now. 
.  As  soon  as  I  have  laid  out  this  town,  and  the 
winter  is  well  set  in,  I  intend  entering  some  more 
land,  as  the  waters  are  up,  and  you  may  know  what 

1  Albion  became  the  town  center  of  the  English  settlements  and 
in  1821  it .  was  made  the  seat  of  Athion  County.  It  was  situated 
in  the  northern  portion  of  Flower's  tract,  two  and  a  half  miles 
east  of  Wanborough,  the  home  of  the  Birkbecks.  Welby,  who  vis- 
ited the  English  Prairie  in  1819,  says  of  the  town :  "  Notwithstand- 
ing the  miserably  unprovided  state  in  which  I  found  it,  much  had 
certainly  been  done,  and  more  was  rapidly  doing  towards  rendering 
the  place  habitable.  Among  other  well-judged  resolutions,  they 
had  determined  that  in  future  all  the  houses  should  be  substantially 
built  of  bricks,  for  the  manufacture  of  which  they  have,  as  I  under- 
stood,  plenty  of  good  clay  in  the  neighborhood.  A  neat  covered 
market,  and  place  of  worship  .  .  .  had  been  finished  and  opened 
to  the  public ;  to  which  I  have  to  add  that  a  roomy  boarding  house 
and  tavern  were  half  up;  a  store  (shop)  pretty  well  supplied  was 
opened"  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  xii,  p.  256).  Woods  (Two 
Years'  Residence}  tells  us  that  in  1820  the  town  contained  about 
twenty  cabins  in  addition  to  the  structures  mentioned  by  Welby 
(EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  p.  272).  Fordham  himself  kept  a 
store  in  Albion  for  some  time  before  his  return  to  England.  There 
is  an  interesting  account  of  the  founding  of  the  town  in  Flower's 
History  of  the  English  Settlement  in  Edwards  County,  Illinois,  pp. 
127-142. 

15 


234  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

places  are  acceptible  or  not,  or  what  lands  are  too 
wet  for  cultivation  or  healthf ulness ;  in  short,  you 
are  sure  not  to  be  deceived  by  the  apparent  beauty 
of  the  situation. 

I  was  yesterday  taken  from  the  New  Town  Sur- 
vey to  explore,  and  run  the  section  lines  over,  the 

Long  Prairie1  and  the  Bon  pas  Prairie,2  G not 

being  able  to  make  out  the  corner  trees,  and  being 
besides  too  busy  to  leave  home  two  days  in  succes- 
sion. 

I  had  never  before  crossed  them  so  high  from 
the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  was  delighted  with  the 
beauty  and  variety  of  these  meadows.  The  Bon 
Pas  Prairie  extends  itself  like  a  vast  lake  of  ver- 
dure. The  soil  is  rich,  but  lies  rather  too  low. 

The  Northern  arm  of  the  Long  Prairie  is  more 
like  an  immense  river,  studded  with  islands  of  wood, 
and  bounded  by  dark  forests,  whose  irregular  out- 
lines present  to  the  eye  fresh  views  at  almost  every 
step.  The  surface  of  this  Prairie  is  gently  undulat- 
ing, completely  free  from  brushwood,  and  its  soil 
is  still  more  rich  than  that  of  the  Bon  Pas  Prairie. 
I  have  noted  down  some  sections  to  enter  for 
friends.  .  .  . 

Since  I  began  to  write  this  letter  I  have  been  in- 
terrupted by  a  tremendous  fire  in  the  Prairie,  which 
driven  by  a  strong  South  wind  threatened  our  hab- 
itations. By  the  exertions  of  about  40  Americans 

1  The  Long  Prairie  lay  in  Edwards  County,  about  two  miles  east 
from  the  English  Prairie.    It  was  a  strip  nine  miles  in  length  (from 
north  to  south')  and  from  one  to  one  and  a  half  in  width. 

2  The  Bonpas  Prairie  lay  in  Edwards  County,  four  miles  north- 
east of  Albion.     It  was  about  two  miles  in  diameter. 


Albion  235 

we  saved  every  thing  but  a  hay  stack  of  G 's. 

It  was  the  most  glorious  and  most  awful  sight  I 
ever  beheld.  A  thousand  acres  of  Prairie  were  in 
flames  at  once ;  —  the  sun  was  obscured,  and  the  day 
was  dark  before  the  night  came.  The  moon  rose, 
and  looked  dim  and  red  through  the  smoke,  and  the 
stars  were  hidden  entirely.  Yet  it  was  still  light 
upon  the  earth,  which  appeared  covered  with  fire. 
The  flames  reached  the  forests,  and  rushed  like  tor- 
rents through.  Some  of  the  trees  fell  immediately, 
others  stood  like  pillars  of  fire,  casting  forth  sparkles 
of  light.  Their  branches  are  strewed  in  smoking 
ruins  around  them. 

While  I  was  with  G 's  people,  burning  a 

trough  round  his  house,  I  saw  the  fire  approach  my 
own.  It  almost  had  surrounded  it.  I  ran  with  my 
utmost  speed,  and  found  I  could  not  get  round  the 
fire.  A  small  opening  appeared  in  one  part,  and  I 
dashed  through,  though  not  without  singing  my 
hunting  shirt  and  scorching  my  mocassins  with  the 
glowing  ashes. 

A  small  creek  near  my  house  stopped  the  fire; 
which,  however,  would  not  have  reached  it,  as  the 
grass  had  been  eaten  down  and  trodden  to  pieces  by 
my  horses.  The  way  to  stop  the  fire  is  to  light 
smaller  fires,  which  are  kept  from  spreading  by  beat- 
ing the  grass  with  Clapboards  or  poles.  This  can 
only  be  effectual  where  the  grass  is  short,  or  much 
trodden. 

There  are  five  large  fires  visible  tonight,  some 
many  miles  off. 


236  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

The  prairies  are  fired  by  the  hunters  to  drive  out 
the  deer.  Two  or  three  years  after  a  place  is  set- 
tled, the  grass  is  eaten  down  and  will  not  burn. 

We  have  now  200  English  on  our  Settlement.1 
Many  are  discontented;  but  the  strong-minded  re- 
gret that  they  did  not  come  out  sooner.  .  .  . 


[The  following  directions  were  given  by  the  author 
to  young  men  of  small  fortune  in  England  who 
might  feel  inclined  to  emigrate.2] 

If  you  are  tired  of  a  state  of  dependency,  or  if 
you  are  not  in  a  good  line  of  business,  come  out  if 
you  can  raise  3Oo£. 

You  need  not  work  at  any  laborious  employment, 
but  you  must  not  mind  a  little  rough  living  at  first. 
I  would  advise  you  to  learn  to  butcher  a  hog,  to  cut 
it  up,  and  to  salt  it  down  properly;  likewise  a  bul- 
lock. For  the  most  profitable  trade  is  salting  pork 
and  beef  for  home  consumption,  or  for  New  Or- 
leans. 

Dealing  in  corn,  grain,  and  flour,  pays  extremely 

'This  was  in  October,  1818.  Under  date  of  August  16,  1819, 
Richard  Flower  wrote  in  his  Letters  that  in  a  tract  between  the  Great 
and  Little  Wabash  seventeen  miles  from  east  to  west  and  from  four 
to  six  from  north  to  south,  where  a  year  and  a  half  before  there 
had  been  but  a  few  hunters'  cabins,  there  were  about  60  English 
families,  comprising  400  souls,  and  150  American  families,  aggregat- 
ing 700  inhabitants  (EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS,  x,  p.  104). 

2  A  similar  body  of  instructions  was  appended  by  Fearon  to  his 
Sketches  of  America  (pp.  453-462).  He  gives  advice  regarding  the 
choice  of  a  vessel  for  the  passage  across  the  Atlantic,  provisions  to 
be  carried  by  cabin  and  steerage  passengers,  clothing  and  other 
articles  to  be  brought,  and  means  of  reaching  the  interior  from 
the  seaboard.  His  suggestions  agree  essentially  with  those  here 
offered  by  Fordham. 


Instructions  for  Emigrants  237 

well.  There  are  indeed  many  things  you  could  do 
here,  and  your  choice  would  be  puzzled  with  the 
variety. 

Bring  three  good  coats,  cloth  waistcoats  and 
trowsers,  for  Breeches  are  never  worn  here,  except 
by  a  few  English;  three  or  four  pair  of  light  linen 
trowsers;  two  suits  of  fustian  coats  and  trowsers; 
and  several  pair  of  worsted  and  cotton  socks,  but  no 
stockings.  Bring  no  shooting  jacket,  unless  you 
have  it  by  you. 

Let  your  chest  be  made  of  seasoned  deal,  and  the 
lid  should  have  a  groove  in  three  sides,  and  the 
box  have  a  slip  or  tongue  to  fit  into  it.  The  back 
part  should  have  a  rule  joint,  like  a  table.  Such  a 
box  would  be  air  tight. 

The  only  article  of  merchandise  I  can  recommend 
you  to  bring  is  blankets ;  some  tolerably  good,  others 
coarse.  These  will  pay  you  Cent  per  Cent.  Invest 
£50  in  this  article. 

Come  in  the  steerage,  if  there  are  but  few  steer- 
age passengers,  but  don't  venture  among  a  great 
many;  and  by  all  means,  take  your  passage  in  an 
American  ship.  If  you  can  meet  with  two  or  three 
respectable  young  men,  board  yourselves,  and  you 
may  live  a  little  better  than  on  ship  provisions. 

Do  not  bring  with  you  any  English  rifles,  or  in- 
deed any  firearms  but  a  pair  of  pistols.  A  good 
rifle  gunlock  would  be  valuable. 

I  will  suppose  you  come  by  way  of  New  York 
to  Philadelphia.  Bring  with  you,  if  you  can  pro- 
cure them,  letters  of  introduction;  and  at  the  latter 


238  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

city  enter  your  intention  of  becoming  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States. 

Engage  a  waggoner  to  carry  your  box  and  bed; 
but  not  yourself.  The  inside  of  the  waggon  is  al- 
ways filled,  so  that  you  cannot  ride  with  any  com- 
fort. Your  ship  mattress  and  blankets  are  the  best 
things  you  can  bring  to  sleep  on.  You  may  wrap 
them  in  a  horse-rug,  rolled  up  and  fastened  with 
two  stirrup  leathers.  By  sleeping  on  your  own  bed, 
you  will  save  from  i2l/2  to  25  cents  per  night,  and 
avoid  catching  anything  disagreeable. 

You  may  perhaps  meet  with  an  intelligent,  well- 
behaved,  waggoner ;  this  will  add  much  to  the  com- 
fort of  your  journey,  and  you  may,  by  rendering 
him  a  little  assistance  now  and  then,  make  him  your 
friend. 

Americanise  your  appearance  as  much  as  you 
can;  you  will  be  treated  better.  You  may  pick  up 
companions  on  the  road,  but  beware  lest  you  asso- 
ciate yourself  with  a  scoundrel. 

Address  your  luggage  to  some  merchant  at  Pitts- 
burg,  and  get  a  letter  of  credit  sent  forward  to  him. 
Otherwise,  should  you  fall  sick,  or  not  choose  to 
keep  up  with  the  waggon,  you  will  then  be  under  no 
uneasiness  respecting  it.  One  small  trunk  or  port- 
manteau you  should  have  with  you  to  contain  a 
change  of  linen. 

Arrived  at  Pittsburg,  you  would  take  your  pas- 
sage to  Cincinnati  in  a  flat  boat,  or  buy  a  skiff. 
Land  at  Evansville,  leave  your  baggage  there,  and 
proceed  to  Princeton. 


SELECTED  LIST  OF  CONTEMPORARY 
TRAVELS 

The  following  volumes  are  frequently  cited  in 
the  introduction  and  notes  by  short  titles.  Com- 
plete titles  are  given  below  for  the  sake  of  refer- 
ence. 

Birkbeck  (Morris),  Notes  on  a  Journey  in  America 
from  the  Coast  of  Virginia  to  the  Territory  of 
Illinois,  with  Proposals  for  the  Establishment  of 
a  Colony  of  English  (Philadelphia,  1817). 

Birkbeck  (Morris),  Letters  from  Illinois  (London, 
1818). 

Bradbury  (John),  Travels  in  the  Interior  of  Amer- 
ica in  the  Years  1809,  1810,  and  1811  (London, 
1819).  Reprinted  in  Thwaites,  Early  Western 
Travels,  1/48-1846:  A  series  of  annotated  Re- 
prints of  some  of  the  best  and  rarest  contem- 
porary volumes  of  travel  descriptive  of  the  ab- 
origines and  social  and  economic  conditions  in 
the  middle  and  far  West,  during  the  period  of 
early  American  settlement  (Cleveland,  1904)  ;  v. 

Bullock  (William),  Sketch  of  a  Journey  through 
the  Western  States  of  North  America.  With  a 
description  of  Cincinnati,  by  B.  Drake  and  E.  D. 
Mansfield  (London,  1827).  Thwaites,  Early 
Western  Travels,  xix. 


240  Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 

Buttrick  (Tilly,  Jr.),  Voyages,  Travels,  and  Dis- 
coveries (Boston,  1831).  Thwaites,  Early 
Western  Travels,  viii. 

Cobbett  (William),  A  Year's  Residence  in  the 
United  States  of  America  (London,  1818). 

Cuming  (Fortescue),  Sketches  of  a  Tour  to  the 
Western  Country,  through  the  States  of  Ohio 
and  Kentucky  (Pittsburg,  1810).  Thwaites, 
Early  Western  Travels,  iv. 

Evans  (Estwick),  Pedestrious  Tour  of  Four  Thou- 
sand Miles,  through  the  Western  States  and  Ter- 
ritories (Concord,  N.  H.,  1819).  Thwaites, 
Early  Western  Travels,  viii. 

Faux  (William),  Memorable  Days  in  America:  be- 
ing a  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  United  States, 
principally  undertaken  to  ascertain,  by  positive 
evidence,  the  condition  and  probable  prospects 
of  British  Emigrants;  including  accounts  of  Mr. 
Birkbeck's  Settlement  in  the  Illinois  (London, 
1823).  Thwaites,  Early  Western  Travels,  xi- 
xii. 

Fearon  (Henry  Bradshaw),  Sketches  of  America. 
A  Narrative  of  a  Journey  of  five  thousand  miles 
through  the  Eastern  and  Western  States  of 
America  (London,  1818). 

Flint  (James),  Letters  from  America  (Edinburgh, 
1822).  Thwaites,  Early  Western  Travels,  ix. 

Flower  (Richard),  Letters  from  Lexington  and  the 
Illinois,  containing  a  Brief  Account  of  the  Eng- 
lish Settlement  in  the  Latter  Territory,  and  a 
Refutation  of  the  Misrepresentations  of  Mr.  Cob- 


Contemporary  Travels  241 

bett  (London,  1819).    Thwaites,  Early  Western 
Travels,  x. 

Flower  (Richard),  Letters  from  the  Illinois,  1820, 
1821.  Containing  an  Account  of  the  English  Set- 
tlement at  Albion  and  its  Vicinity,  and  a  Refuta- 
tion of  Various  Misrepresentations:  Those  more 
particularly  of  Mr.  Cobbett  (London,  1822). 
Thwaites,  Early  Western  Travels,  x. 

Harris  (Thaddeus  M.),  Journal  of  a  Tour  into  the 
Territory  Northwest  of  the  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains, made  in  the  Spring  of  the  Year  1803  (Bos- 
ton, 1805).  Thwaites,  Early  Western  Travels, 
Hi. 

Harris  (William  Tell),  Remarks  made  during  a 
Tour  through  the  United  States  of  America  dur- 
ing the  Years  1817,  1818,  and  1819  (London, 
1821). 

Hulme  (Thomas),  Journal  made  during  a  Tour  in 
the  Western  Countries  of  America:  September 
30,  i8i8-August  7,  16*19.  Thwaites,  Early  West- 
ern Travels,  x. 

Melish   (John),  Travels  in  the  United  States  of 
America  in  the  Years  1806  6-  1807  and  1809, 
18106-1811   (Philadelphia,  1812).     Two  vols. 

Michaux  (Francois  Andre),  Voyage  a  I'ouest  des 
Monts  Alleghanys,  dans  les  Etats  de  I'Ohio,  et 
du  Kentucky,  et  du  Tennessee,  et  retour  a 
Charleston  par  les  Hautes-Carolines  (Paris, 
1804).  English  edition  (London,  1805). 
Thwaites,  Early  Western  Travels,  iii. 

Nuttall  (Thomas),  Journal  of  Travels  into  the  Ar- 


242  Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 

kansa  Territory,  during  the  Year  1819,  with  Oc- 
casional Observations  on  the  Manners  of  the  Ab- 
origines (Philadelphia,  1821).  Thwaites,  Early 
Western  Travels,  xiii. 

Ogden  (George  W.)>  Letters  from  the  West,  com- 
prising a  Tour  through  the  Western  Country, 
and  a  Residence  of  Two  Summers  in  the  States 
of  Ohio  and  Kentucky  (New  Bedford,  1823). 
Thwaites,  Early  Western  Travels,  xix. 

Welby  (Adlard),  Visit  to  North  America  and  the 
English  Settlements  in  Illinois,  with  a  Winter 
Residence  at  Philadelphia  (London,  1821). 
Thwaites,  Early  Western  Travels,  xii. 

Woods  (John),  Two  Years'  Residence  in  the  Set- 
tlement of  the  English  Prairie,  in  the  Illinois 
Country,  United  States  (London,  1822). 
Thwaites,  Early  Western  Travels,  x. 


INDEX 


ALBION,  laid  out  by  Ford- 
ham,  233;  growth  of,  233. 

Alexandria  (Ohio),  Fordham 
at,  90. 

"America,"  voyage  of,  43. 

American  Bottom,  fertility  of, 
104. 

Annapolis,  early  history  of, 
'57;  Fordham  at,  58. 

Appalachlcola,  227. 

Appalouchia,  22?. 

Arks,  in  use  on  the  Ohio,  53; 
described  by  Evans,  80. 

Audubon,  John  W.,  at  Hen- 
derson, Kentucky,  214. 

BACKWOODSMEN,  character 
of,  127,  134,  145,  170,  222; 
inquisitiveness,  129;  atti- 
tude toward  the  English, 
170,  223;  why  short-lived, 
201,  231. 

Baltimore,  described,  58;  the 
route  to  Pittsburg  from, 
59. 

Barlow,  Joel,  89. 

Beavertown,  history  of,  82. 

Bedford,  Fort,  55. 

Bedford  (Pennsylvania),  ear- 
ly history  of  55;  chalybeate 
springs  near,  61;  Michaux's 
experiences  at,  65. 

Belli,  Major  John,  90. 

Big  Beaver  Creek,  passed  by 
Fordham,  82 ;  settlements 
in  the  vicinity  of,  83. 

Big  Muddy  River,  172. 

Birkbeck,  Morris,  acquaint- 
ance with  Edward  Coles, 
23;  decides  to  migrate  to 
Illinois,  23;  arrives  in  the 
United  States,  24;  publishes 
two  books  on  the  West,  24; 
stimulates  emigration  from 
England,  25;  opposed  by 
Cobbett,  26;  defended  by 
Richard  Flower,  27;  de- 
scribes1 the  town  of  Peters- 
burg, 48-49;  at  Richmond, 
50;  plans  for  the  English 
Prairie  colony,  212. 

Birk's  Prairie,  218. 


Blennerhassett's  Island,  Ford- 
ham  at,  88;  Aaron  Burr's 
connection  with,  88. 

Bloomington,  (Indiana),  se- 
lected as  site  for  the  Indi- 
ana Seminary,  150. 

Bond,  Shadroch,  governor  of 
Illinois,  175. 

Bonpas  Creek,  118*. 

Bonpas  Prairie,  234. 

Boone,  Daniel,  in  Kentucky, 
177-179. 

Boston,  Ohio  Company  organ- 
ized at,  86. 

Bradbury,  John,  describes 
conditions  of  westward 
travel,  52-53. 

Brushy  Prairie,  117. 

Buffalo  Lick,  (North  Caro- 
lina), 177. 

Bullitt,  Captain  Thomas,  156. 

Burr,  Aaron,  relations  with 
James  Wilkinson,  62;  deal- 
ings with  Blennerhassett, 
88. 

Byrd,  Colonel  William,  47. 

CANE  Creek,  153. 

Cartwright,  John,  19. 

Cassidy,  Michael,  in  Kentuc- 
ky, 179. 

Cassidy 's  Station,  179. 

Chartier's  Creek,  81. 

Chartres,  Fort,  104. 

Chesapeake  Bay,  Fordham's 
voyage  on,  55;  shores  of 
described,  57. 

Chillicothe,  becomes  capital 
of  Ohio,  183. 

Christmas1  Day,  celebrated  at 
Princeton,  147. 

Cincinnati,  Fordham's  arrival 
at,  165;  founding  of,,  183; 
described,  190-194;  plan  of, 
185;  population,  191;  build- 
ings, 191;  trade,  192;  slav- 
ery in,  193. 

City  Point  (Virginia),  Birk- 
beck's  party  at,  47. 

Clapton,  Mary,  mother  of 
Elias  Pym  Fordham,  30; 
death  of,  31. 


244 


Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 


Clarksville  (Indiana),  estab- 
lished, 157. 

Clatsop,  Fort,,  124. 

Cobbett,  William,  prominent 
in  reform  agitation,  19;  op- 
poses Birkbeck's  coloniza- 
tion scheme,  26;  misuses 
Hulme's  Journal,  27;  at- 
tacked by  Richard  Flower, 
27. 

Coffee  Creek,  202. 

Coffee  Island,  137. 

Coles,  Edward,  acquaintance 
with  Birkbeck,  23;  leader  of 
anti-slavery  party  in  Illi- 
nois, 209. 

Congress,  legislates  on  immi- 
gration, 16. 

Corn  Law,  enacted,  18;  de- 
mand for  repeal  of,  19. 

Corydon,  Fordham  at,  155. 

CoTington  (Kentucky),  found- 
ed, 164. 

Craig,  Major  Isaac,  81. 

Croghan,  George,  at  Vincen- 
nes,  96;  describes  the  Wa- 
bash,  107. 

Cumberland  Gap,  passed  by 
Daniel  Boone,  177. 

Cumberland  Road,  used  by 
travellers  to  the  West,  59; 
traffic  on,  60. 

Cutler,  Manasseh,  agent  for 
the  Ohio  Company,  86. 

Cypress  Creek,  140. 

DEBT,  British  in  1815,  17. 

Detroit,  founding  of,  145. 

Doughty,  Major  John,  87. 

Drake,  Daniel,  historical  writ- 
ings of,  18*;  quoted  by 
Fordham,  190. 

Duelling,  once  common  in  Vir- 
ginia, 56;  efforts  to  sup- 
press in  the  West,  148. 

Duquesne,  Fort,  56,  71. 

Duquesne,  Marquis,  71. 

EAGLE  Creek  Hills  (Ken- 
tucky), 162. 


Edwards  County  (Illinois), 
Birkbeck  settlement  in,  24. 

Edwards,  Ninian,  first  gover- 
nor of  Illinois  Territory, 
112;  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  175. 

Elkhorn  Creek,  crossed  by 
Fordham,  162. 

Embree,  Jesse,  land  agent  at 
Cincinnati,  191. 

Emigration,  from  the  East  to 
the  West,  13-15;  from  Eu- 
rope to  America  after  the 
War  of  1812, 16;  from  Great 
Britain,  19-23;  advocated  in 
Morris  Birkbeck's  books, 
25;  under  what  conditions 
desirable,  174;  classes  of 
emigrants,  227. 

English  Prairie,  settled  by 
Birkbeck  and  Flower,  24; 
controversies  concerning, 
24-29;  Fordham's  sketch  of, 
113;  location,  115;  possible 
lines  of  trade  from,  116; 
Birkbeck's  plans  for  settle- 
ment of,  212. 

Evans,  Estwick,  describes 
craft  on  the  Ohio,  79-8*0. 

Evans,  General  Robert,  found- 
er of  Evansville,  149. 

Evansville,  early  history  of, 
149;  seat  of  Vander burgh 
county,  149. 

FAUX,  William,  author  of 
Memorable  Days  in  Ameri- 
ca, 28;  visits  the  English 
Prairie,  33. 

Fearon,  Henry  Bradshaw,  on 
the  character  of  English 
emigration,  22. 

Fincastle,  Fort,  84. 

Fish  Creek,  85. 

Flatboats,  sketched  by  Ford- 
ham,  77;  described,  79;  in 
use  on  the  Mississippi,  106. 

Flint,  James,  publishes  his 
Letters,  2S;  describes  the 
method  of  acquiring  public 
land,  102-104. 


Index 


245 


Flower,  George,  cooperates  in 
Birkbeck's  colonization  en- 
terprise, 23;  visit  to  the 
West  in  1816,  2'3;  goes  with 
Birkbeck  to  Illinois,  24; 
writes  a  history  of  the  Eng- 
lish settlement,  116. 

Flower,  Richard,  publishes  his 
Letters,  27. 

Fordham,  Elias,  character  of, 
30. 

Fordham,  Elias  Pym,  ances- 
try, 30;  a  pupil  of  Stephen- 
son,  31;  migrates  to  Amer- 
ica with  Birkbeck,  31;  life 
at  the  English  Prairie,  33; 
returns  to  England,  33;  let- 
ters to  English  friends  and 
relatives,  34 ;  arrives  in  Am- 
erica with  Birkbeck's  party, 
45;  at  Petersburg,  Virginia, 
48;  at  Norfolk,  51;  voyage 
up  Chesapeake  Bay,  51-52; 
at  Annapolis,  58;  at  Balti- 
more, 58;  at  Pittsburg,  71; 
descends  the  Ohio,  80;  at 
Wheeling,  85;  at  Marietta, 
86;  at  Blennerhassett's  Ts- 
land,  88;  at  Gallipolis,  8*9; 
at  Portsmouth  and  Alexan- 
dria, 8*9-91 ;  at  Maysville, 
92;  journey  across  Indiana, 
95;  at  Vincennes,  96;  at 
Princeton,  97;  at  Shawnee- 
town,  111 ;  descends  the  Pa- 
toka  and'  Wabash,  138-140; 
trip  across  Indiana,  157;  at 
French  Lick,  154;  at  Cory- 
don,  155;  at  New  Albany, 
157;  at  Louisville,  158;  at 
Shelbyville,  159;  at  Frank- 
fort, 160;  at  Cincinnati, 
165;  searching  for  land, 
166;  farm  located,  172; 
surveying,  203,  218;  life  in 
the  West,  204 ;  at  Harmony, 
205;  at  Henderson,  214; 
lays  out  Albion,  233;  gives 
directions'  for  emigration, 
236. 


Fordham,  Maria,  marriage  to 
Charles  de  la  Serre,  32. 

Fort  Wayne,  treaty  of,  133. 

Fourth  of  July,  celebrated  at 
Princeton,  219. 

Frankfort  (Kentucky),  early 
history  of,  160;  Fordham 
at,.  160. 

Fredericksburg  ( Indiana)  t  de- 
scribed, 156. 

French  Lick,  Fordham  at,  154. 

GAINES,  Edmund  P.,  cam- 
paigns on  the  Florida  fron- 
tier, 150. 

Gallatin,  Albert,  selects  the 
"seminary  township"  in 
Indiana,  149. 

Gallipolis  (Ohio),  Fordham 
at,  89 ;  early  history  of,  89. 

Gass,  Patrick,  journal  pub- 
lished, 124. 

Ghent,  Peace  of,  15. 

Gist,  Christopher,  91. 

Gravesend,  the  "America" 
sails  from,  43. 

Great  Britain,  condition  of  at 
the  close  of  the  Napoleonic 
Wars,  17-19;  agitation  for 
reform,  19-20;  emigration 
from  to  America,  20-22. 

Greenville,  treaty  of,  133. 

Gulf  Stream,  nature  of,  43. 

HALL,  Baynard  R.,  instruc- 
tor in  Indiana  Seminary, 
150. 

Hampton  Roads,  Birkbeck's 
party  arrives  at,  4'5. 

Harmar,  Fort,  86. 

Harmar,  General  Josiah,  de- 
feated by  the  Indians,  91. 

Harris,  William  Tell,  pub- 
lishes his  Remarks,  28. 

Harrison's  Bar,  Birkbeck's 
party  at,  45;  location  of, 
46. 

Harrison,  William  Henry, 
suppresses  the  Indians,  15; 
public  land  bill,  102;  treat- 
ies with  the  Indians,  133. 


246 


Fordham's  Personal  Narrative 


Henderson  (Kentucky),  Ford- 
ham  at,  214. 

Henry,  Fort,  84. 

Hulme,  Thomas,  Journal  used 
by  Cobbett,  27. 

ILLINOIS,  increase  in  pop- 
ulation of,  14;  physical  fea- 
tures, 112;  political  devel- 
opment, 112;  products  and 
prices,  118;  fauna  and  flora, 
119;  ease  of  acquiring  prop- 
erty in,  124;  classes  of  in- 
habitants, 125-127;  complete 
democracy,  128;  advantages 
and  drawbacks  of  life  in, 
131;  climate,  132;  extent 
and  population,  133;  gains 
statehood,  175;  inchoate 
condition  of  society,  181; 
contest  over  slavery,  209- 
210,  221;  opportunities  for 
settlers,  226;  sanitary  con- 
ditions, 230-232. 

Immigration,  after  the  War 
of  1812,  16;  from  Great  Bri- 
tain, 16;  legislation  con- 
cerning, 1C. 

Indiana,  increase  in  popula- 
tion of,  14 ;  Fordham's  jour- 
ney across,  to  Illinois,  95; 
a  forest  region,  100;  consti- 
tution and  government  of, 
100-101;  classes  of  inhabi- 
tants, 125-127 ;  democracy 
in,  128;  lands  acquired  from 
the  Indians,  133;  seminary 
township,  149;  higher  edu- 
cation in,  150;  Fordham's 
trip  across,  to  Kentucky, 
151-155;  character  of  popu- 
lation, 168. 

Indiana  University,  establish- 
ed, 150. 

Industrial  Revolution,  effects 
of,  IS 

JEFFERSON,  Thomas,  visit- 
ed by  George  Flower,  23. 

Jones,  James  W.,  a  founder 
of  Evansville,  149. 


KASKASKIA,  early  history 
of,  104. 

Keelboats,  sketched  by  Ford- 
ham,  77. 

Kentucky,  increase  in  popula- 
tion of,  14 ;  Fordham's  jour- 
ney through,  158-165;  prices 
in,  160;  people  of,  163,  177, 
180,  215;  Daniel  Boone  in, 
177-179;  Michael  Cassidy  in, 
179. 

Kentucky  River,  described, 
161. 

LAND,  prices  of  near  Phila- 
delphia, 61;  value  of  in  In- 
diana, 99,  102;  methods  of 
acquiring  described  by 
Flint,  102-104;  the  basis  of 
wealth,  122;  ceded  by  In- 
dians in  Indiana,  133; 
prices  about  Cincinnati, 
169;  value  of  influenced  by 
slavery,  210. 

La  Serre,  Charles  de,  321. 

Lewis  and  Clark,  western 
travels  of,  123. 

Lexington  (Kentucky),  early 
history  of,  162. 

Ligonier,  Fort,  91. 

Liguest,  Pierre  Laclede  foun- 
der of  St.  Louis,  68. 

Limestone   [Maysville],  92. 

Little  Blue  River,  154. 

Little  Muddy  River,  172. 

Little  Wabash  River,  116. 

Logstown,  passed  by  Ford- 
ham,  81. 

Long  Prairie,  234. 

Louisiana,  District  of,  101. 

Louisville,  early  history  of, 
157;  Fordham  at,  158. 

Lyttleton,  Fort,  68. 

McConmellstown,  visited  by 
travellers  to  the  West,  68. 

McGary,  Hugh,  occupies  site 
of  Evansville,  149. 

Mammoth  Cave,  180. 

Manchester  massacre,  19. 

Marie  Antoinette,  87. 


Index 


247 


Marietta,  Fordham  at,  86; 
early  history  of,  86-87. 

Maryland,  physical  features 
of,  59;  inhabitants  of,  60. 

Massie,  Henry,  89. 

Massie,  Nathaniel,   92. 

Maysville  (Kentucky),  Ford- 
ham  at,  92;  described  by 
travellers,  92. 

Melish,  John,  investigations 
in  America,  70;  publishes 
his  Travels,  70. 

Michigan,  Territory  of,  101. 

Middle  West,  early  emigra- 
tion to,  14-17;  routes  of 
travel  to,  5'2;  classes  of  in- 
habitants, 124-127;  Eastern 
prejudice  against,  131. 

Missouri  River,  hunters  on, 
>224. 

Monroe,  James,  designates  a 
"seminary  township"  in 
Indiana,  150. 

NANTUCKET,  people  of  de- 
scribed', 196. 

New  Albany,  founding  of, 
157;  Fordham  at,  158. 

New  Harmony,  Fordham  at, 
20*5;  establishment  of,  205; 
life  of  inhabitants,  206-2081; 
religious  services,  208. 

New  Orleans,  trade  from 
Pittsburg  to,  75-76. 

"New  Orleans,"  launched,  15. 

Newport  (Kentucky),  found- 
ing of,  164. 

New  York,  arrival  of  British 
immigrants  at,  21. 

Norfolk,  Fordham  at,  51. 

Northwest  Ordinance,  enact- 
ed, 86. 

Northwest  Territory,  divided 
by  Congress,  112;  slavery 
in,  194. 

Nuttall,  Thomas,  visit  to 
Pittsburg,  76. 

OGDEN,  George  W.,  publish- 
es his  Letters,  28. 
O'Hara,  General  James,  76. 


Ohio  Company,  organization 
of,  86. 

Ohio,  increase  in  population 
of,  14. 

Ohio  River,  methods  of  navi- 
gating, 53;  craft  described 
by  Evans,  79-80;  narratives 
of  navigation,  80;  descent 
of  by  Fordham,  81;  the 
"falls"  of,  105;  aspects  of, 
184,  187-188;  La  Salle  on, 
188. 

Owen,  Robert,  at  New  Har- 
mony, 206. 


PARLIAMENT,  demand  for 
reform  of,  18;  enacts  the 
Corn  Law,  18". 

Paroquets,  abundant  in  the 
Ohio  Valley,  138. 

Patoka  River,  described,  137; 
Fordham  descends,  138-139. 

Pell,  Gilbert,  anti-slavery 
leader  in  Illinois,  210. 

Pennsylvania,  the  people  of, 
60,  64-66. 

Pennsylvania  Road,  59. 

Petapsco  River,  58. 

Petersburg  (Virginia),  des- 
cribed; by  Fordham  and  by 
Birkbeck,  48. 

Piankeshaw  Indians,  115. 

Pike,  Zebulon,  western  trav- 
els of,  123. 

Pitt,  Fort,  55,  73. 

Pittsburg,  plan  of  drawn  by 
Fordham,  74;  early  history 
of,  71;  described  by  trav- 
ellers, 72;  commercial  con- 
ditions at,  7&;  dependence 
on  the  Ohio  River  trade,  76. 

Pittsburg  Pike,  59. 

Pontchartrain,  Fort,  146. 

Pope,  Nathaniel,  territorial 
delegate  of  Illinois,  175. 

Population,  Increase  of,  in 
Middle  West,  14. 

Portsmouth  (Ohio),  Fordham 
at,  90. 


248 


Ford  ham's  Personal  Narrative 


Prince,  William,  97. 

Princeton,  Fordham,  at,  97; 
described,  97-98,  108;  cele- 
bration of  Christmas  at, 
147;  Fourth  of  July  at,  219. 

RADCLIFFB,  Anne,  66. 

Radical  Party,  organized,  19. 

Rapp,  George,  founder  of  New 
Harmony,  205. 

Recovery,  Fort,  112. 

Richmond,  described  by  Birk- 
beck,  50. 

Roosevelt,  Nicholas  J.,  build- 
er of  the  "New  Orleans," 
106. 

ST.  GLAIR,  Arthur,  career 
of,  91. 

St.  Louis,  early  history  of,  68. 

Saline  River,  salt  works  on, 
120. 

Scenery,  lack  of  in  America, 
152,  163. 

Scioto  Company,  89. 

Selkirk,  Lord,  at  Vincennes, 
134;  operations  in  the 
Northwest,  134. 

Seminary  Township,  history 
of,  149450. 

Shade  River,  88. 

Shawneetown,  early  history 
of,.  111. 

Shelby,  Isaac,  governor  of 
Kentucky,  159. 

Shelby ville(  Kentucky),  Ford- 
ham  at,  159. 

Shippingport  ( Kentucky) , 
105. 

Slavery,  deplored  by  Virgin- 
ians, 56;  essential  in  the 
far  South,  67;  at  Cincinna- 
ti, 193;  story  of  the  slave 
Anthony,  194;  contest  in  Il- 
linois, 209-210,  221;  influ- 
ence on  value  of  land,  210. 

Smeaton,  John,  engineering 
exploits  of,  144. 

Spa  Fields,  meeting  at,  19. 

Spence,  Dr.  Hubert  de  La- 
serre,  possessor  of  the  Ford- 
ham  manuscript,  11,  32. 


Steamboats,  early  use  on  wes- 
tern rivers,  106. 

Stephenson,  George,  31. 

Symmes,  John  Cleves,  obtains 
grant  on  the  Ohio,  183. 

TAYLOR,  General  James,  164. 
Temperatures,  record  of,  198- 

200. 
Thomas,  Jesse  B.,  elected  to 

the   United   States   Senate, 

175. 
Thwaites,  Reuben  Gold,  editor 

of  Early  Western  Travels, 

11;  quoted,  37. 

VANDERBURGH  County  (In- 
diana), created,  149. 

Vevay  (Indiana),  Swiss  set- 
tlement at,  213. 

Vincennes,  early  history  of, 
96;  population  of,  96;  In- 
dians in  the  neighborhood 
of,  97. 

Vincennea  University,  estab- 
lished, 149;  later  history, 
150. 

Virginia,  people  of,  49,  56,  66, 
176. 


WABASH  River,  described, 
108;  traffic  on,  116. 

Washington,  Fort,  91,  189. 

Wayne,  General  Anthony,  ne- 
gotiates treaty  of  Green- 
ville, 133. 

Weekly  Political  Register,  19. 

Welby,  Adlard,  visits  the  Eng- 
lish Prairie,  26. 

Wheeling,  Fordham  at,  8*4; 
growth  in  commerce,  84. 

Wilkinson,  James,  career  of, 
62. 

Woods,  John,  publishes  his 
Two  Years'  Residence,  28. 

Wylie,  Andrew,  President  of 
Indiana  College,  150. 

ZANE,  Colonel  Ebenezer,  84. 


Important 
Historical  Publications 


OF 


The  Arthur  H.  Clark  Company 

Full  descriptive  circulars  will  be  mailed 
on  application 


AUDUBON'S  WESTERN 
JOURNAL:  1849-1850 

Being  the  MS.  record  of  a  trip  from  New  York  to 

Texas,  and  an  overland  journey  through  Mexico 

and  Arizona  to  the  gold-fields  of  California 

BY 

JOHN  W.  AUDUBON 

With  biographical  memoir  by  his  daughter 
MARIA  R.  AUDUBON 

Edited  by 

FRANK  HEYWOOD  HODDER 

Professor  of  American  History,  University  of  Kansas 

With  folded  map,  portrait,  and  original  drawings 


W.  AUDUBON,  son  of  the  famous 
ornithologist,  was  a  member  of  Colonel 
Webb's  California  Expedition  which 
started  from  New  York  City  for  the  gold- 
fields  in  February,  1  849.  The  Journal 
consists  of  careful  notes  which  Audubon 
made  en  route.  1  1  was  written  with  a  view 
to  publication,  accompanied  by  a  series  of  sketches  made 
at  intervals  during  the  journey;  but  owing  to  Audubon's 
pre-occupation  with  other  affairs,  the  plan  of  publication 
was  never  realized. 

The  Journal  is,  therefore,  here  published  for  the  first 
time,  and  is  illustrated  by  the  author's  original  sketches, 
carefully  reproduced.  It  gives  a  vivid  first-hand  picture 
of  the  difficulties  of  an  overland  journey  to  California,  and 
of  the  excitements,  dangers,  and  privations  of  life  in  the 


S    WESTERN   JOURNAL 

gold-fields.  An  additional  interest  attaches  to  this  account 
from  the  fact  that  Colonel  Webb  deserted  his  party,  which 
consisted  of  nearly  a  hundred  men,  when  the  expedition 
reached  Roma,  and  the  command  then  by  unanimous 
choice  of  the  party  devolved  upon  Audubon.  This  situa- 
tion, as  modestly  related  by  the  author,  displays  his 
sympathetic  nature,  as  well  as  his  keenness  and  ability  as 
a  leader. 

Besides  being  a  fascinating  story  of  adventure,  the  Jour- 
nal throws  much  light  on  the  interesting  years  immediately 
following  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California.  John  W. 
Audubon  was  (with  his  brother  Victor  G.  Audubon)  the 
assistant  of  his  father,  and  executed  much  of  the  artistic 
work  on  the  famous  "Quadrupeds  of  North  America." 
His  pictures  of  the  spreading  of  the  gold  craze  in  the  East, 
the  journey  through  Mexico,  and  the  social  conditions 
after  reaching  California,  show  him  to  be  a  keen  and 
faithful  observer. 

The  Editor,  Professor  F.  H.  H odder,  of  the  University 
of  Kansas,  has  supplied  complete  annotation  explaining 
matters  of  topography,  natural  science,  and  historical  and 
personal  allusions.  Professor  H  odder  in  his  editorial  work 
has  drawn  liberally  upon  his  special  knowledge  of  the  his- 
tory and  geography  of  the  West  and  Southwest.  A  bio- 
graphical memoir  has  been  written  by  Miss  Maria  R. 
Audubon.  Being  the  daughter  of  the  author,  she  has 
availed  herself  of  a  large  amount  of  auxiliary  material  not 
accessible  to  any  other  biographer. 

Printed  direct  from  type  on  Dickinson's  deckle-edged 
paper,  and  illustrated  with  folded  map,  portrait,  and  plates, 
in  one  volume,  8vo,  about  225  pages,  cloth,  uncut. 

Price  Ij.oo  net. 

The  Arthur  H.  Clark  Company 

TU'B USHERS  CLEVELAND,  OHIO 

17 


"AX  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  HIGHEST  IMPORT4NCE"-WmsoT 


THE 

PRESENT      STATE 

O  F    T  H  E 

EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENTS 

ON    T  HE 

M     1     S    S     I     S     I     P     P     I, 


A  GEOGRAPHICAL  DESCRIPTION   of  that  RIVER. 


ILLUSTRATtD     tY 


PLANS     AND     DRAUGHTS. 


By  Cjpuin    PHILIP    P1TTMAN. 


•LONDON. 

Printed  far  J.  NOVRSE,  Bootblltr  to  His  MAJESTY. 
MOCCLXX. 


Edited  with  Introduction,  Notes,  and  Index,  by 

FRANK  HEYWOOD  HODDER 

PROFESSOR  OF  AMERICAN  HISTORY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  KANSAS 

THIS  exceedingly  rare  work  was  issued  in  London,  in  1770,  and 
has  been  so  much  in  demand  by  historical  students  and  collectors 
of  Americana  that  even  imperfect  copies  of  the  original  are  now  almost 
impossible  to  obtain  at  any  price.    Our  text  is  from  a  perfect  copy  of 
the  original  with  all  the  folding  maps  and  plans  carefully  reproduced. 

*Only  two  copies  have  been  offered  for  sale  during  the  past  five  years ;  one  copy  sold 
at  $9S.oo,  and  the  other  is  now  offered  by  a  reliable  firm  of  booksellers  at  $105.00. 


PITTMAN'S    MISSISSIPPI    SETTLEMENTS 

Pittman's  Mississippi  Settlements  contains  much  valuable  original  ma- 
A  1  LJ  terial  for  the  study  of  the  French  and  Spanish 
Si  Valuable  Settlements  of  old  Louisiana,  West  Florida,  and 
SOUrCe  WOrk  l^e  ^^mo's  country.  The  author,  Captain  Philip 
Pittman,  was  a  British  military  engineer,  and 
gives  an  accurate  general  view  of  the  Mississippi  Settlements  just  after 
the  English  came  into  possession  of  the  eastern  half  of  the  valley  by 
the  Peace  of  1763.  His  account,  written  from  personal  observation, 
is  rich  in  allusions  to  the  political,  social,  and  military  readjustments 
resulting  from  this  change  of  possession.  "A  comprehensive  account 
of  the  Illinois  country  and  its  inhabitants,  with  sketches  in  detail  of 
the  several  French  posts  and  villages  situated  therein,  as  personally 
viewed  by  him  in  1 766-67.  ...  It  contains,  in  a  compact  form,  much 
useful  and  reliable  information  (nowhere  else  to  be  found)  concern- 
ing the  Mississippi  Valley  and  its  people  at  that  transition  period." 
— WALLACE:  Illinois  and  Louisiana  under  French  Rule. 

Dr.  William  F.  Poole  in  Winsor's  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of 
CT*I  7>      .  America  says :     "  It  is  the  earliest  English 

J.  fie  earliest  account  of  those  settlements,  and,  as  an 

English  account  fut!;orit? in  ^  wes*m  ^^  if of  the 

o  highest  importance.    He  |_rittman]  was  a 

military  engineer,  and  for  five  years  was  employed  in  surveying  the 
Mississippi  River  and  exploring  the  western  country.  The  excellent 
plans  which  accompany  the  work,  artistically  engraved  on  copper, 
add  greatly  to  its  value. " 


An  introduction,  notes,  and  index  have  been  supplied  by  Professor 

*  .         T  Frank  Heywood  Hodder,  who  has  made  a 

SinnOtatlOn  uy         special  study  of  American  historical  geo- 

ProfessorHodder®*^'  The  value  .of  the  rePrint  is  thus 

•/  enhanced  by  annotation  embodying  the  re- 

sults of  the  latest  researches  in  this  field  of  American  history. 


The  edition  is  limited  to  500  copies,  each  numbered.  It  is  hand- 
somely printed  in  large  Caslon  type  on  Dickinson's  deckle-edged 
paper.  With  folding  maps  and  plans.  Large  8vo,  cloth,  uncut,  gilt  top. 

Price  $3.00  net. 


THE  ARTHUR  H.  CLARK  COMPANY 

•PWBLISHE1(S  CLEVELAND,   OHIO 


The  First  Circumnavigation  of  the  Qlobe 


MAGELLAN'S  VOYAGE 
AROUND  THE  WORLD 

BY  ANTONIO  PIGAFETTA 

The  original  and  complete  text  of  the  oldest  and  best  MS. 
(the  Ambrosian  MS.  of  Milan,  of  the  early  XVI  cen- 
tury). The  Italian  text  with  page-for-page  English  trans- 
lation. Translated,  edited,  and  annotated  by  James  A. 
Robertson,  of  the  editorial  staff  of  "The  Jesuit  Rela- 
tions and  Allied  Documents"  and  co-editor  of  "The 
Philippine  Islands:  1493-1 898."  With  numerous  maps, 
plates,  and  facsimiles. 

"By  far  the  best  and  fullest  account  of  the  expedition."  —  (juillemard. 


IGAFETTA'S  AC  COUNT,  the  fullest 
and  best  authority  for  the  famous  Voyage 
of  Magellan,  is  here  completely  present- 
ed in  English  for  the  first  time.  Piga- 
fetta  was  an  Italian  of  noble  family, 
interested  in  navigation  and  fond  of 
travel.  Happening  to  be  in  Spain  when 
Magellan  was  about  to  sail,  he  secured  permission  to 
accompany  the  expedition.  Pigafetta  kept  a  detailed 
account  of  the  incidents  of  the  voyage  and  faithfully 
recorded  his  observations  on  the  geography,  climate, 
and  resources  of  the  numerous  strange  countries  vis- 
ited or  described  to  him.  Of  especial  value  are  his 
remarks  on  the  customs,  physical  character,  and  lan- 
guages of  the  various  peoples  of  South  America,  and 
the  Ladrones,  Philippines  and  other  Asiatic  Islands. 
Pigafetta's  Account,  notwithstanding  its  great  im- 


portance  to  students,  has  never  been  adequately  pub- 
lished. Stanley,  in  his  translation  for  the  Hakluyt 
Society,  omits  many  passages  relating  to  the  manners 
and  customs  of  native  peoples,  mis-translates  other 
passages;  and  furthermore  does  not  translate  from 
the  original  Italian,  but  in  part  from  a  defective 
French  MS.  of  later  date,and  in  part  from  Amoretti's 
garbled  printed  edition  of  the  Ambrosian  MS. 

The  MS.  which  we  use  is  the  oldest  in  existence 
and  is  conserved  in  the  Biblioteca  Ambrosiana  at 
Milan.  This  MS.  was  purported  to  have  been  pub- 
lished in  1 800  by  Amoretti,  but  his  publication  was 
what  the  Italians  call  a  refacimento,  in  which  the 
order  is  entirely  changed  at  times  to  say  nothing  of 
the  meaning.  To  insure  a  correct  version  of  the  text, 
the  editor,  Mr.  Robertson,  visited  Milan  and  under- 
took the  transcription  personally. 

The  numerous  charts  of  the  original  are  carefully 
reproduced,  together  with  a  rare  early  map,  showing 
Magellan's  discoveries  in  the  Far  East.  To  preserve 
the  archaic  forms  and  peculiar  letters  of  the  old 
Italian,  type  has  been  specially  designed  and  cut  for 
many  peculiar  characters.  The  editing  and  annota- 
tion are  elaborate  and  exhaustive;  an  Index  and  a 
complete  Bibliography  are  added,  making  this  the 

BEST  EDITION  OF  PIGAFETTA  IN  ANY  LANGUAGE 

Issued  in  a  limited  edition  of  350  copies  only. 
Printed  direct  from  type  on  Dickinson's  deckle- 
edged  paper.  Two  volumes,  large  8vo,  cloth,  uncut, 
gilt  top.  Price  $7.50  net. 

The  Arthur  H.  Clark  Company 

CLEVELAND,  OHIO 


EARLY  WESTERN  TRAVELS 

A  SERIES  of  Annotated  Reprints  of  some  of  the  best 
and  rarest  contemporary  volumes  of  travel,  descrip- 
tive of  the  Aborigines  and  Social  and  Economic  Condi- 
tions in  the  Middle  and  Far  West,  during  the  Period  of 
Early  American  Settlement. 

Edited  with  Historical,  Geographical,  Ethnological,  and  Bibliographical 
Notes,  and  Introductions  and  Index,  by 

Reuben  Gold  Thwaites,  LL.D. 

With  facsimiles  of  the  original  title-pages,  maps,  portraits, 
views,  etc.  3 1  volumes,  large  8vo,  cloth,  uncut,  gilt  tops. 
Price  $4.00  net  per  volume  (except  the  Maximilien  Atlas, 
which  is  $ 1 5.00  net).  The  edition  is  limited  to  750  com- 
plete sets,  each  numbered  and  signed;  but  in  addition  there- 
to, a  limited  number  of  the  volumes  will  be  sold  separately. 

An  Elaborate  Analytical  Index  to  the  Whole 

"This  new  series  of  historical  and  geographical  works  by  the  scholarly 
editor  of'  The  Jesuit  Relations  and  Allied  Documents ,'  promises  to  be 
particularly  valuable  and  of  more  than  usual  popular  interest.  All  the 
books  are  rare,  some  of  them  exceedingly  so,  no  copy  being  found  in  the 
largest  collections  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  or  in  many  abroad.  They 
are  copiously  explained  and  illustrated  by  introductions  and  notes,  bio- 
graphical sketches  of  the  authors,  bibliographical  data,  etc.  The  series 

should,  of  course,  be  in  every  public,  collegiate,  and  insti- 
tutional library,  to  say  nothing  of  private  collections  of 

respectable  rank.  The  works  included  naturally  vary  in  literary 
merit  and  attractiveness,  but  many  of  them  will  compare  favorably 
with  the  better  class  of  modern  books  of  travel,  while  some  are  as  fas- 
cinating as  the  best  fiction." — The  Critic. 


THE  ARTHUR  H.  CLARK  COMPANY 

TVBLISHEl^S  CLEVELAND,  OHIO 


Extracts  from  a  few  of  the  reviews 

American  Historical  Review :  "The  books  are  handsomely  bound  and  print- 
ed. The  editing  by  Dr.  Thwaites  seems  to  have  been  done  with  his 
customary  care  and  knowledge.  There  is  no  want  of  helpful  annotations. 
The  books  therefore  are  likely  to  be  of  more  real  value  than  the 
early  prints  from  which  they  are  taken." 

The  Independent:  "The  editor's  annotations  make  the  present  series  worth 
possessing,  even  if  one  already  owns  the  originals." 

The  Literary  Digest:  "It  is  next  to  impossible,  at  this  late  date, 
even  to  a  well-endowed  public  library,  to  amass  a  consider- 
able collection  of  these  early  travels,  so  essential  to  an  adequate 
understanding  of  the  life  and  manners  of  the  aborigines,  and  the  social  and 
economic  conditions  in  the  middle  and  far  West,  during  the  period  of 
early  American  settlement.  The  making  of  a  judicious  and  competent 
selection  of  the  best  and  rarest  of  these  writings  has  become  an  inevit- 
able requirement  J  and  the  patient  company  of  historians,  librarians, 
and  scholars  will  be  quick  to  congratulate  each  other  that  the  great  task 
has  fallen  to  the  hands  of  so  well-equipped  an  editor  as  Dr.  Thwaites, 
eminent  as  an  authority  on  all  questions  pertaining  to  the  exploration  and 
development  of  our  great  Western  domain." 

The  Forum:  "A  most  helpful  contribution  to  the  study  of  the  America  of  a 
century  or  so  ago. ' ' 

The  Atbeneeum:  ".  .  .  A  series  of  permanent  historical  value  .  .  .  It  ought 
to  find  a  place  in  every  geographical  or  historical  library." 

Public  Opinion:  "The  century  that  sets  the  bounds  of  this  work  is  the  most 
important  and  interesting  in  the  history  of  the  'winning  of  the  West;'  .  . 
it  is  comprehensive,  and  the  materials  at  the  disposal  of  the  editor  assure  a 
collection  that  will  be  indispensable  to  every  well-equipped  public 
or  private  library." 

The  Nation:  "  A  stately  series,  octavo  in  size,  typographically  very  open  and 
handsome.  The  annotations  are  abundant  and  highly  valuable. ' » 

New  York  Times  Saturday  Review:  "An  invaluable  series  of  reprints  of 
rare  sources  of  American  history." 

The  Dial:  "An  undertaking  of  great  interest  to  every  student  of 
Western  history.  Exhaustive  notes  and  introductions  are  by  Dr. 
Thwaites,  the  foremost  authority  on  Western  history,  who  is  also  to  sup- 
ply an  elaborate  analytical  index,  under  one  alphabet,  to  the  complete 
series.  This  latter  is  an  especially  valuable  feature,  as  almost  all  the  rare 
originals  are  without  indexes." 


"  We  cannot  thoroughly  understand  our  own  history,  local  or  National,  without  some  knowledge 
of  these  routes  of  trade  and  war." — The  Outlook. 

The  Historic  Highways  of  America 

by  ARCHER  BUTLER  HULBERT 

A  series  of  monographs  on  the  History  of  America  as  portrayed  in  the  evo- 
lution of  its  highways  of  War,  Commerce,  and  Social  Expansion. 

Comprising  the  following  volumes : 

I — Paths  of  the  Mound-Building  Indians  and  Great  Game  Animals. 
II — Indian  Thoroughfares. 

Ill — Washington's  Road:  The  First  Chapter  of  the  Old  French  War. 
IV— Braddock's  Road. 
V— The  Old  Glade  (Forbes's)  Road. 
VI — Boone's  Wilderness  Road. 
VII — Portage  Paths:  The  Keys  of  the  Continent 
VIII — Military  Roads  of  the  Mississippi  Basin. 
IX — Waterways  of  Westward  Expansion. 
X — The  Cumberland  Road. 

XI,  XII — Pioneer  Roads  of  America,  two  volumes. 
XIII,  XIV — The  Great  American  Canals,  two  volumes. 
XV — The  Future  of  Road-Making  in  America. 
XVI— Index. 

Sixteen  volumes,  crown  8vo,  cloth,  uncut,  gilt  tops.  A  LIMITED  EDITION 
only  printed  direct  from  type,  and  the  type  distributed.  Each  volume  hand- 
somely printed  in  large  type  on  Dickinson's  hand-made  paper,  and  illustra- 
ted with  maps,  plates,  and  facsimiles. 

Published  a  volume  each  two  months,  beginning  September,  1902. 

PRICE,  volumes  I  and  2,  $2.00  net  each;  volumes  3  to  16,  $2.50  net 
each. 

FIFTY  SETS  PRINTED  ON  LARGE  PAPER,  each  numbered  and  signed  by  the 
author.  Bound  in  cloth,  with  paper  label,  uncut,  gilt  tops.  Price,  $5.00 
net  per  volume. 

"The  fruit  not  only  of  the  study  of  original  historical  source*  in  documents  found  here  and  in 
England,  but  of  patient  and  enthusiastic  topographical  studies,  in  the  course  of  which  every  foot  of 
these  old  historic  highways  has  been  traced  and  traversed." — The  Living  Age. 

"The  volumes  already  issued  show  Mr.  Hulbert  to  be  an  earnest  and  enthusiastic  student,  and  a 
reliable  guide."—  Out  West. 

"  A  look  through  these  volumes  shows  most  conclusively  that  a  new  source  of  history  is  being 
developed— a  source  which  deals  with  the  operation  of  the  most  effective  causes  influencing  human 
affairs." — Iowa  Journal  of  Histoiy  and  Politics. 

"  The  successive  volumes  In  the  series  may  certainly  be  awaited  with  great  interest,  for  they 
promise  to  deal  with  the  most  romantic  phases  of  the  awakening  of  America  a:  the  dawn  of  occi- 
dental civilization." — Boston  Transcript. 

"  The  publishers  have  done  their  part  toward  putting  forth  with  proper  dignity  this  important 
worK.  It  is  issued  on  handsome  paper  and  is  illustrated  with  many  maps,  diagrams,  and  old 
prints."—  Chicago  Evening  Post. 


